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Profissional Documentos
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By
A thesis
Presented to the University of Manitoba in partial
Fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology
0
for
Dona Marieta
and
Dona Maria Velha
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ABSTRACT
This ethnographic study was conducted among the Kariri-Shoco, an indigenous
people of Northeast Brazil, during nine months of field research in 2001. The research
focuseD on the female body, particularly female reproductive processes and bodily
fluids as a fundamental way of approaching female embodiment. Kariri-Shoco
ethnophysiology and reproductive processes were investigated through examining
shamanic specialists‟ and women‟s conceptions, experiences, and perceptions of how
sexual difference and cure-healing practices are intertwined with Kariri-Shoco
knowledge of the body. Kariri-Shoco women‟s meanings and experiences in relation to
reproductive processes, sexual practices and desires were approached as fundamental
issues for the understanding of female embodiment.
The investigation of therapeutic methods of cure-healing ritual performances has
shown how traditional indigenous medical practices remain contemporary Kariri-Shoco
shamanic specialists‟ medical knowledge. Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists explain
that the body opens during sexual intercourse and when women experience menstrual
and post-delivery blood fluxes. Bodily fluids of male and female bodies from sexual
intercourse, and menstrual and post-delivery bodily blood fluxes, provide a
vulnerability of the body in which shamanic practices become dangerous. I describe
three different kinds of Kariri-Shoco cure-healing rituals which have the purpose of
closing the patient‟s body. The reza (prayer) ritual is one of the first steps that Kariri-
Shoco people take towards cure-healing processes. Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists
experience embodiment during cure-healing rituals, when the nature of the patient‟s
health problem is discovered, diagnosed, and treated. I have discussed and demonstrated
that Kariri-Shoco knowledge of the body relates to the „openness‟ and „closedness‟ of
the body, which provides basis for sexual differences perceptions and experiences
intertwined with gender embodiment.
Data analysed about gender and female embodiment reveal how Kariri-Shoco
reproductive women resist male domination. The perspective that Kariri-Shoco
shamanism is the fundamental locus for approaching and understanding symbolic
aspects of Kariri-Shoco ethnophysiological reproductive concepts and the experiences
women have through sexual difference and practices provided the possibility to
approach how female embodied subjectivity is produced and experienced within the
Kariri-Shoco cultural context.
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mother, and my Father, among the Kariri-Shoco, for all the blessings, for all the
strength that they gave me to concentrate on my work and to continue focusing, despite
the difficulties and sufferings which are experienced during the whole process of
My gratitude is also immense to so many friends that I have found among the
Kariri-Shoco, who made me feel part of their world through their blessings, through
their knowledge, and through their kindness. I am especially grateful to Dona Marieta,
who embraced me with so much love, and Dona Maria Velha, who was so patient and
kind with my work. I am sure wherever they are now, they have joined enchanted
I thank Paje Julio and Cacique Cicero, for trusting me and allowing me to
conduct ethnographic research among their people. I thank Candara for letting me know
and witness how hard is the work and responsibility of the Kariri-Shoco prayer-healer
shaman with other peoples‟ health, as well as for the respect that he and his children
(Kenedy and Dulcilene) had for my research. I thank Frederico for the attention and
understanding he gave to my work. I also feel grateful to Mr. Herpidio, Chiquinho, Mr.
Zeca, and Mr. Ze Tenorio, for all their consideration and respect that they gave to my
to Dona Zezinha, Dona Chiquinha, Dona Maria Curi, Dona Ivete, Dona Especilia, and
so many other Kariri-Shoco Grandmothers, who receive and give so many blessings to
all God‟s persons and God‟s children. I am so grateful to Baioca for letting me know
how powerful and strong a shaman she is and also to let me see how much goodness she
ii
has from her Mother‟s heart. My thank yous are extended to all Kariri-Shoco women
who shared with me their kindness, their friendship, their knowledge and experiences. I
thank also my entire Street of Caboclo neighbors who were so kind with my family and
me, sharing so much friendship and making us feel at home through their warmth and
kindness.
Gynecologist and Obstetric, M.D., and Ma. Lúcia Aguiar Carneiro Martins, who gave
me all the encouragement, strength, and support of their love and goodness for coming
to Canada and to realize their dream for me of being one of the doctors among their
children, which, in my case though not a medical one, but even stronger within the
I am also very grateful to my man, Ivson José Ferreira, who proudly became my
househusband in Canada, providing all the love, kindness, support, and attention I
needed during this difficult long, winding, and hard academic road. Without his
dedication and love, I am sure I would not have enough strength to keep being strong.
All his care for our beautiful children Stela and Tomás and me was fundamental. I also
thank Stela and Tomás who are so kind and blessed creatures, who arrived in our lives
and bring us so much happiness. Without their beauty and kindheartedness this
academic road would have been so much tougher for me to continue to move ahead. I
thank my children for their patience and the understanding they had for all the time that
From the academic environment, I have so much gratitude for so many nice and
knowledgeable people. I would like first to mention the friends that I have in the
have my leave to come to the University of Manitoba. I specially thank Maria do Carmo
iii
Vieira, who gave me all attention necessary in Brazil. For my Brazilian anthropologists
- friends and masters – João Pacheco de Oliveira Filho and José Augusto Laranjeiras
Sampaio, I am eternally grateful for the inspiration that they have always provided to
Silva, who has helped me so much with his friendship and attention on providing me
with bibliographic materials necessary for my thesis. I also thank Renato Athias, who is
a wise medical anthropologist working with Aboriginal peoples from Northwest and
Northeast Brazil, for the support on bibliographic material and attention I needed.
Clarice Mota, who have conducted such a beautiful research about the Kariri-Shoco‟s
ethnobotanical knowledge, thank for the respect with my study. I am thankful also, to
Parry Scott, who has always believed in me since before my Baccalaureate of Social
My thanks also goes to all my feminist friends, especially from the Le Petit
Comité, who have always shared great moments of joy and strength: Odete
Vasconcelos, Lady Selma Albernaz, Clelia Joron, Katia Araújo, Grazia Cardoso and
Zuleika Dantas. My special friends, Clarisse Garcia. Hulda Stadtler, and Rachel Rocha.
My sisters, Fernanda and Valéria. They are all great and beautiful Brazilian women.
acceptance into the doctorate program as my adviser and understanding my need for a
feminist anthropologist as an adviser. For Dr. Ellen Judd, I feel an immense gratefulness
for accepting to be the one who followed and guided my paths. Ellen Judd became my
academic strength. It was through her attention, dedication, and respect for my work
iv
I am grateful, also, to my advisory committee members, who have also given me
gratitude is on how much I have learned from his teachings, providing me with a wide
experience of dealing with diversified ethnographic data analysis, from poetry, film and
history, to academic ethnological productions about Aboriginal peoples from the North
committee members, while she has so many activities with her work and
of Manitoba, where I have learned a great deal within the medical anthropological field.
I thank Dr. Patricia Kaufert for her attention during a reading course about women and
providing me with so much learning in the courses of Cultural Epidemiology and Health
and Health Services of Native People (shared with wise Dr. Kue Young). I learned also
Anthropology); I thank all her attention and respect for my work. They were all
fundamental steps for my discovery and learning within medical anthropology. For Dr.
Alagoas State Foundation), which provided me with a doctorate fellowship during the
Manitoba Graduate Fellowship from the year 2000 to 2002, and also granted me the
v
UMSU (University of Manitoba Scholarship Awards) in the year 2000, for excellence in
academic achievement. I feel very thankful for their recognition of value in my work,
My gratitude goes also to so many friends that I have found in the University of
Manitoba and in the city of Winnipeg. I would like first to thank Keith Milligan, M.A.
(History) and his wife Dorothy Milligan, who are so gentle and nice friends. Since the
English writing with so much interest. I will be forever thankful for these kindhearted
friends. I also thank my friend and „fictive‟ sister Luda Mykeyeva, who shared so many
joyful moments with my family and me. My friend, Joy Ooto, I will be forever thankful
for embracing me at her warm home when I first arrived in Canada, and for becoming
discovered and consider as a „true relative‟ in Canada. Carla is the one who has watched
my indigenous growth. I thank also my compadre relatives, Larry and Rose Presado,
who let me and my children share close kinship and friendship bonds.
My friends from the Department of Anthropology are so many, and each one is
so special. Thank you to Treena Orchard, for the beauty and strength of her friendship.
Thank you Gio and Paula Migliardi, to be so good friends. Thank you Shaun Mulvey
(and Sherry), George Nikou, and Dorothy Wise who are great anthropologists and
friends. So many friends to thank: Roxie Wilde and Lynne Dalman, thank you for all
your attention. I also thank Lois Ward (from International Student Center, U of M), who
vi
I feel extremely blessed to have had this opportunity to live in such a nice
country as Canada, and meet so many goodhearted people. Again, thank you
vii
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT i
Acknowledgments ii
I INTRODUCTION 1
II RESEARCH CONTEXT 9
2.1. Kariri-Shoco History 9
2.2. Ethnography and Literature Review 26
2.3. Kariri-Shoco and Their Neighbors 35
IV METHODOLOGY 78
4.1. My Plan in the Field 79
4.2. Research Methods: Interviews and Selected Case Studies 85
4.2.1. Indigenous Health Practitioners (shamanic specialists and
a midwife) as Case Studies 86
4.2.2. Women as Case Studies 89
4.2.3. Methods for Researching Case Studies 92
4.3. Visual Anthropology 94
4.4. Ethics 98
viii
8.3.1. Marriage, Pregnancy, Aborto/Miscarriage, Delivery 291
8.4. Some Observations on Authoritative Knowledge and Medicalization
Related to Physiological Reproductive Processes 316
IX CONCLUSION 331
9.1. Embodiment: The Body as Object and/or Subject of Knowledge 331
9.2. Gendered and Female Embodiment: Corporeal, Ontological and
Lived Realities 348
GLOSSARY 369
BIBLIOGRAPHY 374
ix
ILLUSTRATIONS
Maps
TABLES
x
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS
xi
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The general objective of this qualitative research project was to explore how
specific characteristics of the female body are perceived and experienced by the
people of Northeast Brazil, during nine months of field research in 2001. This
medical anthropology and feminist theory. My concern during field research was to
recognition that the gendered body can be researched from its materiality, considering
(Grosz 1994).
Lock 1987; Strathern 1999). This approach on embodiment combines the abstract and
1
concrete senses of the body, where I have proposed focusing on the female
Browner and Sargent (1990) have suggested. In this sense, bodily fluids are related to
the biological body‟s permeability, boundaries, and marginalities, which involve sex
differentiated bodies and in which the differences are culturally, socially, and
been part of ethnographic descriptions, which include events that cover biological
facts related to women‟s experiences during the life-cycle, such as menarche, coitus,
and Sargent 1990), all of which relate to Western conceptions of the biological or
practices. Thus, the Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists‟ knowledge of the body and
2
processes, sexual practices and desires are considered fundamental issues for the
sexual difference and practices. Thus, this investigation has approached Kariri-Shoco
experiences related to both their concepts of sexual difference and medical practices.
The purpose of this qualitative research is to describe and analyze how female
approach how female embodied subjectivity is produced and experienced within the
practices and through experiences that Kariri-Shoco women have with reproductive
processes.
Brazilian indigenous peoples (including the Kariri-Shoco) serve as foci. In the first
3
section, the history of indigenous people in Northeast Brazil is approached to show
how indigenous people were submitted to Catholic missionary actions and to different
particularly about Kariri people, are described based on the work of historians and
ethnologists who have organized the limited ethnographic data provided in historical
is in the last section of this chapter that the Kariri-Shoco contemporary context and
their struggle for territorial rights are described focusing on governmental agency
assistance.
Chapter III presents the theoretical frameworks utilized for analysis and
knowledge and practice. In the field of feminist theory, I discuss different trends and
explain why and how I utilized in my research the group of feminists who suggest
that sexual difference is a fundamental reference for female embodiment and the
and Grosz (1994) provide theoretical and methodological considerations of the body,
in cultural context. In the field of medical anthropology, I point out how the female
reproductive body has been the object of wide fields of knowledge in contemporary
4
studies, among which medicalization of reproduction (Browner and Sargent 1990;
Lock and Kaufert 1998, etc.) and authoritative knowledge (Jordan 1978) are
chapter where I explain how this qualitative research builds on the theoretical
is following researchers, such as Csordas and Kleinmen (1990) and Good (1994) that
Kariri-Shoco cure-healing rituals and practices are considered within their cultural
and which methods were utilized during field research. It is explained how shamanic
specialists were selected for ethnographic interviews with the use of the DRS method
conducted during the first months of field research. Two different structured
interview schedules were used with opportunistic samples that guided the selection of
quantitative and qualitative ethnographic data collection. This chapter also explains
rituals was video recorded and selected as digital stills in order to illustrate Kariri-
5
Shoco shamanic specialists‟ embodied experiences and knowledge. The video
dialogues, gestures, and expressions are often part of the ethnography. In the last
section of this chapter, I discuss how ethical issues were considered during the field
of a sociological and medical knowledge domain. The second section focuses upon
specialists occupy positions and have different roles. In the third section, Kariri-
Shoco perceptions and experiences with diseases-illnesses are described and analyzed
as aspects of different medical regimens. This section also presents ethnographic data
spiritual beings and experience embodiment when they discover and diagnose the
patient‟s health problems during these ritual performances. The focus on Kariri-
embodiment is described and discussed. Digital video footages recorded during these
ethnographic data and analysis. The translations of several quotations from digitally
6
recorded ethnographic interviews are also used to show how shamans describe and
to show how sexual difference is culturally coded. In the first section, Kariri-Shoco
(including bodily fluids) and reproductive processes, are described and analysed. It is
in this section where I show how Kariri-Shoco knowledge of the body is intertwined
delivery and menopause are discussed. It also describes information that Kariri-Shoco
reproductive women case studies reported about their experiences with conjugal
relationships, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and delivery. It is in the last section that
data presented shows how indigenous knowledge have been utilized in the context of
7
cure-healing practices and Kariri-Shoco reproductive women‟s experiences and
perceptions.
about Kariri-Shoco shamanism as medical knowledge and practice and, also, Kariri-
Thus, while the first chapters (II, III, IV) focus on the research context and process of
developing and conducting ethnographic research among the Kariri-Shoco, the last
ones (chapter V, VI, VII and VIII) present ethnographic data collected, registered,
8
CHAPTER II
RESEARCH CONTEXT
This chapter is organized into sections that focus upon Kariri-Shoco historical
and cultural contexts. In the first section, Kariri-Shoco history is presented primarily
century history is considered, particularly focusing upon their struggle for indigenous
rights.
several peoples and their cultures. Ribeiro (1995, 141) estimates an Indian population
of about five million in the territory of modern Brazil in 1500 which, after three
centuries of colonization, decreased to about one million. In 1957 this population was
estimated at 99,700 (Ribeiro 1970, 261) and a 1995 survey found 325,652 individuals
(FUNAI 1999).
9
According to Ribeiro (1978) Brazilian people is characterized “at an ethnic
level” by what he analyses on the Brazilian cultural formation from origins based on
the mixture of “different ethnic matrixes from Iberian colonizer, tribal indigenous
peoples and African slaves… [as] product of European colonizer expansion that
joined… the matrixes which have formed” an “species-novae” (Ribeiro 1978, 70).
product of the mixture of what Ribeiro (1978) analyses from contributions that each
The indigenous contributed, principally, with the quality of the genetic matrix
and as the cultural agent transmitting their experience of ecological adaptation
for the new recent land conquered. The black, also as genetic
matrix,[contributed] …principally in the quality of labor force, which
generated mostly the goods produced and the wealth that was accumulated
and exported… The white had the role of promoting the colonization, of
reproducing… [and] implementing the institutional order of social life, and as
the agent of cultural expansion…” (Ribeiro 1978, 72)
(title VIII, Of the Social Order, and Chapter VIII, Of Indigenous Peoples) marked
constitutions. Since February of 1991, a revision of the Indian Statute (a law that rules
Indian affairs according to prior the constitution) remains to be amended and made
law by the Congress into the Statute of Indigenous Societies. This revision is
necessary in order to adapt old legislation into the terms of the new Brazilian
Constitution of 1988.
10
The Indian Statute, which prior to amendment, remains to be reviewed,
(Article 1, Law number 6001/1973; Lobo 1996, 119). The Constitution of 1988
beliefs and traditions, and primordial rights over their traditional land occupations”
(Article 231; Lobo 1996,114). While the Statute of Indigenous Societies has not been
passed yet in the Brazilian Congress, Law number 6001 of 1973 (Indian Statute) still
Thus, the term Indian refers today to a forensic historical cultural definition,
which will be altered into changes in regulations according to the new Brazilian
emphasize the collective character and rights of these peoples. The changes may also
recognize the differences among indigenous peoples and also their differences from
the national society through the recognition that indigenous peoples‟ rights over their
lands are linked to the concept of original rights from the historical recognition that
1
The Indian Statute establishes that “Indian” means “…all individuals of pre-
Colombian origin and ancestral lineage who identifies himself[/herself] and is
identified as belonging to an ethnic group which cultural characteristics distinguish
him[/her] from national society” (Article 3, Section I), and that “Indigenous
Community” or “Tribal Group” is “the total of families or Indians, who live in
isolation from other sectors of the national communion, or in intermittent or
permanent contact, without being integrated” (Article 3, Section II; Lobo 1996, 120).
11
In northeastern Brazil, there is a total indigenous population estimated in 1993
at 31,600, divided into twenty-seven ethnic groups (see Map 1). In this region there
twentieth century and continues today, where several groups that were considered
extinct have re-emerged and have fought for indigenous identity rights.
during history (such as the Kariri-Shoco, Pankararu, and Fulni-ô) from groups that
only recently have been identified and have fought for indigenous identity rights;
these Sampaio (1986) classifies as emergent groups (such as the Kapinawá, Tingüi-
Botó, and several others). The Kariri-Shoco, with the majority of these ethnic groups,
live in places where Catholic missions were established in the first centuries of the
Portuguese occupation.
The Portuguese Crown‟s colonial strategy from the sixteenth century included
massive grants of land, usually to military men. These landowners, who were called
donatários, received from the king hereditary parcels of land (passing from father to
son) known as capitanias. Portuguese men inside the capitanias received large plots
of land called sesmarias. A lucrative sugar industry developed near the coast during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries using African slave labor.2 The occupation of
the interior started in the seventeenth century when cattle farms were established as a
2
It is estimated that in 1810 2.5 million Africans had been brought to Brazil,
which contributed to the fact that “two-thirds of the entire Brazilian population in the
early nineteenth century was of partial or total black ancestry” (Skidmore and Smith
1984, 24-27).
12
Map 1: “Map of Indigenous Lands Settlements in Northeast Brazil”
13
In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, two terminologies, Tupi and Tapuia,
were used by different colonial conquers (Portuguese, French, and Dutch) to denote
indigenous peoples who occupied the coastal (Tupi) and interior (Tapuia) lands (from
Rio Grande do Norte to the Bahia states). In the seventeenth century, the Portuguese,
who had expelled the French, already dominated the coast, and most of the Tupi
peoples who occupied the north to south coast were dead (Hemming 1978, 283).3
Tapuia was used as a generic term to refer to non-Tupi indigenous peoples who
occupied a wide region into the hinterlands and were often identified as Kariri tribes
(Pinto 1935). Ferrari (1957, 18) produced a map that shows the region of Kariri
people‟s perambulation (see Map 2), and Nimuendaju (1981) also produced a map
about indigenous peoples in Brazil where the terminologies used for tribes appear
Capuchin missionaries during the seventeenth century, have the same opinion that
Kariri was used as a common language by different groups through four dialects:
Dzubukuá was recognized as the dialect that people used in the region where Kariri-
3
Nowadays only two groups in the Brazilian coast are descendants from Tupi
peoples: the Potiguara (in Northeast) and the Tupiniquim (Southeast).
14
Shoco live today. Rodrigues (1986, 49) identifies Kariri as a language that belongs to
prohibited the use of indigenous languages. For example, the Alvara (Decree) dated
May 8 of 1758 determined Portuguese as the official language and prohibited the use
of native languages such as Nheengatu, which was a general Tupi language widely
spoken throughout Brazil in the sixteenth until the early eighteenth century. 5 The
colonization process not only contributed to cultural disruptions but also to the
4
According to language classifications, Tupi, Arawak, Carib, and Macro-Gê
are considered the principal indigenous language families in Brazil (Rodrigues 1986).
5
Ribeiro (1970) mentions that Nheengatu was a general language widely
diffused for communication, first between Europeans and Tupinamba peoples from
the coast. It then became the “language of civilization” (Ribeiro 1970, 122) spoken by
colonialists, missionaries, and neo-Brazilians (mixed racial population formed in the
first centuries of colonization process).
15
Map 2: “Map of Kariri Peoples Perambulation during the Seventeenth Century”6
also included the use of natives for military actions. For example, missionary
considered “enemy Indians.” Natives also fought for the Portuguese Crown against
6
Abreviations for northeastern States are: PI, Piauí; CE, Ceará; RN, Rio
Grande do Norte; PB, Paraíba; PE, Pernambuco; AL, Alagoas; SE Sergipe; BA
Bahia.
16
African slave rebels, contributing to the extinction of Quilombos (African refugee
The Dutch established a colony in northeast Brazil for about 30 years in the
early seventeenth century. They allied with indigenous groups, such as the Potiguar
(one of the Tupi language groups) and Kariri, who fought against other Kariri allied
with the Portuguese against the Dutch. The history of occupation and conquest of
Brazil (not only by the Portuguese but also by the French and Dutch) involved also
the division of indigenous populations among different European colonialists and the
enslavement of those who rebelled against the Portuguese colonial enterprise. The
colonizers also utilized wars among native peoples for their colonizing purposes.
the Barbarians (Guerra dos Barbaros) was considered the symbol of resistance
against cattle-farm colonial expansion into northeastern hinterland Brazil. This war
was also known as the Confederation of Kariri (Confederação dos Kariri) because
several indigenous peoples who were generically called Tapuias, and identified
mostly as Kariri, were the principal peoples who fought in this war. This indigenous
resistance covered a wide northeast area from Bahia up to Maranhão states, and Tupi
historical tutelage practices, domination, and expropriation of lands. All these facts
interconnect, for tutelage systems are not only methods of domination, but
17
historically have often considerably changed cultures, and facilitated invasion of
founded upon the recognition of unquestionable superiority of one group and the
the dominant society. Dallari (1982), analyzing different tutelage systems in Brazil
since the eighteenth century, mentions that tutelage practices have always entailed a
kind of control, from which follows that governmental or state interests determine
and relate to powerful control over individuals considered not capable of responding
for themselves.
Indigenous peoples in Northeast Brazil were under tutelage control, first from
throughout their history. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Diretorio
dos Índios (Indian Directory) and, after 1845, the Diretoria Geral dos Indios (Indian
protecting and assisting indigenous peoples through economic and political control
within reserve systems. Thus, in Northeast Brazil, where colonial history took place
18
different tutelage systems at different times. These peoples have even experienced the
121), that was used to refer to Indians who were brought under Catholic Jesuit
missionary villages and then considered pacified (pacificados). From 1692 to 1759
the Junta das Missões (Union of Missions) in Portugal was responsible for
missionary villages in the eighteenth century in the lower São Francisco River region,
where several indigenous groups, including the Kariri-Shoco, still live. The
disruption processes when different indigenous groups were gathered into the same
(Lindoso 1983).
which in the eighteenth century related to the establishment and expansion of cattle
farms into hinterlands. Jesuit missions had a “structured enterprise model” (Mata
1989, 32), which exploited indigenous peoples as labor workers and settled farm
indigenous peoples‟ settlement at a Jesuit mission where today the Kariri-Shoco live.
19
The Jesuit missionaries in Porto Real do Colégio administered mostly cattle raising
and rice horticulture (Mata 1987, 34). This donation of land was fundamental to the
Pinto (1956, 48-60), based on Couto (1904) and two other important
documents dated 1749 and 1760, organized a scheme that shows fifty-five indigenous
Porto Real do Colégio mission was linked to another (São Brás), where Cariri and
Pinto (1956) observes that there is not much evidence to show whether tribal
refer to particular groups that were politically autonomous, but affiliated culturally
model of missionary settlements where, throughout history, the Kariri had been
identified as one of the groups which formed part of this mission in Porto Real do
Colegio.
In 1759, the Jesuits were expelled from Brazil and the Union of Missions was
replaced by the Diretorio dos Índios (Indian Directory), established during the
co1onial Portuguese regime, and later replaced in 1845 by another agency called
Diretoria Geral dos Indios (Indian Affairs General Directory), which directed
20
Since the beginning of colonization, official policies were directed to deal
with indigenous affairs, but only after 1758 did the jurisdiction of the Indian peoples
indigenous peoples were then considered orphans under Portuguese tutelage, and
“Indian captain,” whichever was considered appropriate (Mata 1989, 43), who would
While documents from this time mention conflicts, they do not discuss
indigenous cultures. There is a reference that in 1763, Cropotós and Cariris Indians
Porto Real and that the land of this Freguesia belonged to the Indians (Biblioteca
Nacional 1923, 225). In 1840, a director of Colégio village states that this indigenous
village had a population of 102 men and 98 women, and calls attention to the need for
demarcation of their territory because several conflicts between invaders and Indians
mentions eight indigenous villages in the Province of Alagoas, and that Colégio
village had a population estimated at 193 Indians, who belonged to Coropotó, Cariri,
and Acunan tribes (Antunes 1984). Hohenthal (1960a) mentions a document dated
1852 which reports that 258 individuals composed the indigenous population in
21
Colégio, and lived by fishing, harvesting manioc, and selling pottery made by
women. Hohenthal (1960a) also points out that this report from 1852 could had been
written in 1952, because he witnessed that the Indians were living under similar
circumstances of poverty.
century, where indigenous peoples are described as vagabonds, lazy, and disturbers of
the order (Antunes 1984; Mata 1989). According to Mata (1989), this shows that
1872, several indigenous ethnic groups, including those located in Colégio village,
According to Mata (1989), the politics of extinction was the result of the
expansion of the national society overrunning indigenous villages, different from the
first centuries of colonial conquest when the expansion extended over indigenous
territories. Mata (1989) also mentions that while at the first moment of colonization
caboclo was a term used to describe Indians who submitted to villages in order to be
civilized, later it was used as a prejudicial term to ignore the existence of Indians who
were mixed with non-indigenous population. Thus, the indigenous loss of territorial
result of this politics of extinction. In the late nineteenth century, several Shoco
22
Indians found refuge among the Kariri in Porto Real do Colégio. The Shoco, who had
been settled in a village on São Pedro Island, were expelled from their territory by
politician in the region, who took over indigenous land. Several Shoco families,
including the political leader, joined the Kariri in Colégio village. Others remained
under the landowner‟s farm that had expanded over indigenous land. Dantas (1980a,
1980b) mentions that thirty Shoco Indians (who had moved to Colégio) tried to return
to São Pedro Island territory in 1930, but once again these Shoco were expelled, this
time by the police force. The invasion of their land was based on official recognition
twentieth century, including the participation of the Kariri-Shoco from Colégio, led to
territorial rights in 1991, when Decree n. 401 finally legalized their territory in
twentieth century in Porto Real do Colégio. In 1937, Oliveira (1943) observed 180
Shoco Indians living there. Hohenthal (1960b, 98) observed that Shoco groups were
located in Colégio and Olho d‟Água do Meio (where the Tingui-Boto live at the
present time) in Alagoas state, and that another group was on São Pedro Island,
Sergipe state. Hohenthal (1960b) mentions that these three groups had no essential
differences and were gathered together at a place close to Colégio to celebrate their
23
According to Dantas (1980b, 178-9), Shoco (Ceocoses, Ciocó, Chocó, etc.)
have been mentioned in historical accounts since the seventeenth century, and since
River valley there are wide possibilities for Shoco cultural and linguistic affiliations.
Nascimento (2000, 17) mentions that probably Shoco Indians were present in Colégio
village from the beginning, since historical accounts always noted their presence.
Indigenous groups along the São Francisco valley have always maintained interethnic
Mota (1997, 1987) and Mata (1989) explain that Kariri and Shoco shared
cultural background and kinship from which they became Kariri-Shoco: “a complex
nation of people, at once united and divided” (Mota 1997, 15). Several individuals
Carapotó, and Shucuru-Kariri, have also joined and shaped the Kariri-Shoco as an
Shoco, explained how their ancestors came to Porto Real do Colégio and gathered
conflicts between Kariri and Shoco themselves, which revealed that although they
have much intermarriage and most people are both Kariri and Shoco (united), they
were divided by conflicts and political disputes, which they described as being part of
different peoples.
Brazil relates to the greater history of Brazil, where Portuguese, African, and
24
indigenous populations have joined and exchanged cultural traits. These indigenous
peoples share the same socially inferior condition under the Brazilian cultural
capitalistic system in which they are immersed, although they have a distinct relation
to the state and neighbors marked by ethnic identity differences that are officially
recognized by the Brazilian government. One could mention that despite colonial
this capitalist system. The Kariri-Shoco have not easily engaged in productive
enterprises, nor followed a dominant social order. They have fought for recognition as
themselves or through contacts with regional populations (Oliveira Filho 1993), the
Kariri-Shoco and other groups have resisted political and economic constraints. These
peoples have been situated under actions, or the absence of actions (when they were
submission have taken place. Their resistance resides mainly through the maintenance
of their shamanistic knowledge, which is exercised and practiced in their daily life.
Kariri-Shoco shamanism as a medical practice has been a way through which Kariri-
similar shared situations and experiences for other northeastern Brazilian indigenous
groups, where state and religion have exercised a power through tutelage systems,
25
which have maintained these peoples under surveillance. In the following section, an
peoples who have experienced similar histories of missionary actions and colonial
conquest also share similar system of beliefs. In this section, a literature review about
ethnographic data.
It is known that when the Portuguese arrived, Tupi and Tapuias (or Kariri)
were disputing territorial occupation along the seacoast, and Tupiniquim had already
driven Kariri peoples into the Northeast Brazil interior (Garcia 1922). Pinto (1935)
historical literature that included fifteen different Carirís groups (among them
Chocós, Aconãs, Sucurús) according to the geographic locations they occupied. This
ethnologist asserts that Carirí were not only one of the principal peoples that occupied
Northeast Brazil, but also that Cariri, per se, represented a language family (Pinto
1935; 1956).
26
which also contained ethnographic data on Kariri dance and Aticum indigenous group
religious ceremony. Meader (1978, 57-58) also included a list of the indigenous
of their native language that the religious leader remembered. As was already
explanations about the Kariri people‟s origins. When Hohenthal (1960a) investigated
discovered that the term Cariri had been widely applied to several different tribes
without certainty, and that contemporary use of this tribal terminology by some
indigenous groups did not necessarily imply an ancestral root link with Cariri during
the first centuries of the colonization process. Hohenthal (1960a, 1960b) researched
indigenous groups from the mid and lower São Francisco River, and also conducted
observed that Cariri peoples believed that they had come from an enchanted lake in
the north of the continent (which he thought could be the Amazon region) and that
7
Rodrigues (1986, 51-52) investigated grammars, dictionaries, and languages
of the Macro-Gê language family, and makes several references to the Kariri
language, such as those from missionaries like Mamiani ([1699] 1942) on Kipéa
dialect and Nantes ([1709] 1979) on Dzubukuá dialect. Rodrigues (1986) also
mentions a study that he wrote about Kariri kinship (Rodrigues 1948) and a Master‟s
thesis on the Kipéa dialect (Azevedo 1965).
27
they had migrated down along the seacoast, from where they had been expelled by
Tupi peoples in the countryside. In the northeast hinterlands they were identified in
different areas they have occupied as Old Cariris and New Cariris (Garcia 1922).
Sobrinho (1929; 1950) wrote about the Kariri people‟s language and origin before the
people were involved. Both Kariri and Shoco terminologies are present throughout
which he compiled from this historical literature. The term also are written in
different ways, like Kariri, Cariri, Cariry, Caririuazes, Quiriri, Kiriri, and also Xoco,
Shoco, Chocos, which means that different European colonizers, missionaries and
others have used different words to refer to various indigenous peoples. For example,
Herckman (1886) in the seventeenth century described reported contacts between the
in order to make an effort to trace historical contacts and references for understanding
speakers of different European languages registered and used different terms (Dantas
1980b).
28
Garcia (1922) explains that the term Kariri is a Tupi language word for silent
(1978), who compiled several reports from historical references, affirms that Kariri
peoples from the São Francisco River region during the seventeenth century lived by
hunting, fishing, and had more developed agriculture of cassava, corn, pumpkin, and
beans, which were the basic foods of these peoples. The missionary Mamiani ([1699]
1942), in the seventeenth century, described Kariri peoples as also having more
cultural developed agriculture and that woman made cotton hammocks and
rudimentary ceramics (clay pots) which, according to him, distinguished them from
their neighboring tribes. The Kariri-Shoco to this day continue to make utilitarian
pottery; this is a female activity and also an economic means for subsistence.
of Kariri peoples, including Shoco as one of the Kariri tribes. Mota (1989), from
historical and ethnohistorical research, demonstrates that there is not much reliable
these peoples described in chronicles and documents. Mota (1987) suggests that it is
through shared myths and beliefs that today Kariri peoples can be traced to cultural
healing practices related to witchcraft, which resemble situations that I have found
during fieldwork. For example, in 1706 the Capuchin missionary Martinho de Nantes
([1706] 1979) published a report of his experience of working in missions in the São
Francisco River islands and mentioned that the religion of Cariri included the worship
29
of several gods, for agriculture, hunting, and fishing. Father Martinho de Nantes
([1706] 1979) also reported that several witches exercised divinatory practices about
future happenings and that they also cured diseases when these same witches did not
provoke them. They used to make extensive use of tobacco and prayers to heal, and
sang songs that could not be understood (Nantes [1706] 1979). Not only are
currently, but also healing practices are exercised with tobacco and other herbs, where
prayers and rituals, which involve songs, are very frequently used.
Karapoto in Alagoas state (these last two peoples claim they are descended from the
Kariri-Shoco), Fulni-ô in Pernambuco state, and Shoco in Sergipe state. All these
groups practice and participate in the Ouricuri ritual in each other‟s territories, but the
only group allowed to participate in the Ouricuri of the Fulni-ô (which is the only
ritual practices and their ritualized use of Jurema plant, although there is uncertainty
8
The Ouricuri is the principal Kariri-Shoco ritual. It is in the village called
Ouricuri, in a forest inside the reserve, where the Kariri-Shoco gather twice a month
(during three or four days) for shamanistic ritual celebrations and cure-healing ritual
practices. The longest Ouricuri ritual is happens annually during fifteen days in the
month of January.
30
contemporary data indicate that several of these indigenous peoples shared cultural
similarities, especially religious practices that today these groups still have.
Nascimento (1994) also recognizes that shared cultural traits may have happened
through cultural exchanges which took place in more recent history, such as the
commercialization and production and their utilitarian ritual objects as visual signs,
(1992) demonstrates a symbolic universe where space and the society of enchanted
spirits guarantee Pankararu ethnic identity and unity, and constitutes Pankararu
imagery.
indicate that ethnicity is the key factor for differentiation between these groups and
the national society. In this way, Mata (1989) remarks that contrasting identities
„ethnicism‟ is the specific variable for this peasantry model. Dantas (1980a, 1980b)
investigates the ethnohistory of indigenous groups from Sergipe state; Soares (1977)
recognizes that the differences between the Pankarare and their Brazilian neighbors
lived through a conflictive situation. Carvalho (1984) observes that the terminologies
31
used by these indigenous groups work as a distinctive sign and that ethnicity is related
The authors mentioned above followed Oliveira‟s (1972a, 1972b; 1976) ethnic
(Amorim 1970-71; 1975). They also focus on opposed relations between these groups
and the national society (Mata 1989) or during history (Dantas 1980a; 1980b) from
when considered through this perspective, the focus is on the “tribal order” versus
1972a; 1972b; 1976). These approaches focus on political and economic conflict and
formulated by Oliveira (1972a; 1972b; 1976), builds on the perspective that conflicts
and continuous interactions are structural components of the contact, from which the
character. In this way it is predicted that the destiny of indigenous groups is marked
by a “progressive loss of culture while they are integrated into the regional economy”
groups from Northeast Brazil as being on the edge of the process of integration into
the national society. In a cultural perspective, they are considered as those who
“maintain minimal conditions to continue being Indians, as they have forgotten their
tribal language and the major part of their ancestral culture” (Ribeiro 1970, 56).
32
Oliveira Filho (1998) calls attention to the fact that in these visions, these ethnic
groups suffer from the lack of everything including culture, thus they are perceived as
part of a “population recognized as not very culturally distinct” (Oliveira Filho 1998,
48), they are “culturally mixed,” and “negative attributes disqualify and differentiate
them from the pure Indians of the past” (Oliveira Filho 1998, 52).
Several studies from the 1990s follow Oliveira Filho‟s (1988) theoretical
and interdependency, and that the unity of this situation must be considered a
concrete process of social interaction in which different groups (ethnic and others) are
contextually articulated (Oliveira Filho 1988, 58). Secundino (2000), for example,
focused on how the Fulni-ô have been associated politically with regional power
Azevedo 1986; Barbosa 1991; Barreto 1992; Batista 1992; Brasileiro 1995; Diaz
1983; Foti 1991; Grünewald 1991, 1999; Martins 1984, 1994; Mata 1989; Messeder
1995; Mota 1987; Nascimento 1994; Ribeiro 1992; Secundino 2000; Silva 2003,
Souza 1992; Souza 1998; Valle 1993), only Mota‟s (1987) doctoral dissertation and
33
and healing practices. Silva (2003) researched Kariri-Shoco treatments and healing
practices.
Mota (1987; 1996; 1997) observed that Western and indigenous medical
systems differ since Kariri-Shoco medicine “comes from sacralized grounds, obtained
through occult work and divine inspiration” (Mota 1987, 240). I found that suffering,
involve mystical experiences for the Kariri-Shoco. These experiences are directly
(Mota 1987, 1997), which reflects a complex context of plural medical practices.
exercise their power as a focus of their ethnicity. Kariri-Shoco history has shown that
while at the first moment, their shamanistic knowledge was a target for missionary
domination. In the following section the Kariri-Shoco history of the twentieth century
is approached, with the focus on the Kariri-Shoco‟s struggle for indigenous rights in
contemporary situations.
34
2.3. Kariri-Shoco and Their Neighbors
The twentieth century for the Kariri-Shoco, and several other indigenous
indigenous groups that had been considered extinct at the end of the nineteenth
century started to fight for their official recognition by the SPI, which was the agency
that the Brazilian government organized in 1910 to protect and assist indigenous
groups.
In 1944, after the Kariri-Shoco had struggled for indigenous rights for
decades, the SPI recognized the Kariri-Shoco as an indigenous ethnic group. The SPI
had several regional offices throughout Brazil and the Fourth Regional Division
located in Recife was responsible to assist eight different indigenous groups in the
Northeast during the 1940s (Pinto 1956, 20). The SPI Post located in Porto Real do
maybe „Pratio,‟ and Naconã, „which some were Cariri‟” Indians (Pinto 1956, 22;
Oliveira 1943).
by Pinto (1956) and Oliveira (1943), show how descendants of different indigenous
earlier occupation established during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when
different indigenous groups were gathered into the same missionary village there.
Although diverse tribal terminologies have been used during history for indigenous
35
groups in Porto Real do Colégio village, information has always confirmed the
Mata (1989, 96) mentions a report dated 1945, in which the head of the local
Indian Protection Service (SPI) Post in Colégio describes that 166 Indians were
assisted and living in 67 poor houses in the Street of the Caboclos in Porto Real do
Colégio town, under great poverty and without economic means for subsistence. In
this report, the SPI employee requested from the Fourth Regional SPI headquarters a
solution related to land that could be used by the Kariri-Shoco for agricultural
purposes. In 1948, the Kariri-Shoco received 54.50 ha., which they called Colônia. In
1950, the construction of a railroad that crossed this land reduced the dimension of
this area to 35 ha. This parcel of land was not only insufficient for the Kariri-Shoco,
but since it was located a 3 km distance from the river course, it was difficult for
1989).
The Northeast Brazilian area of Porto Real do Colegio County has seasonal
droughts and periods of heavy rain which cause floods of the São Francisco River.
Several hydroelectric projects have been built since the 1940s in the São Francisco
seasonal river floods. This has affected enormously the indigenous and regional non-
36
subsisted working on landowners‟ rice plantation grown on flat lands (called
for economic usage of different areas distant from the river land bordering. Mata
(1989) and Nascimento (2000) calls attention to the fact that governmental interest
assisting these populations were more related to pressure from international banks,
provide assistance.
In 1978, after an Ouricuri ritual, 700 Kariri-Shoco occupied an area that they
considered ancestral land and reclaimed it as part of their territory. This parcel of land
called Sementeira (428 ha) was under management of CODEVASF. Part of this
Sementeira area had been occupied since 1957 by posseiros (squatters) who were
These posseiros took over 220 ha. of land in 1957, which was called Cercado Grande.
Thus, from the Sementeira area which the Kariri-Shoco considered ancestral land,
only the Fazenda Modelo with an area of 225 ha was actually occupied by them in
economic development projects directed at populations who were living under the
consequences of hydroelectric projects built in the São Francisco River course. This
Sementeira land had been used for different economic projects, such as cattle raising
combined with agriculture and, later, fish farming (Mata 1989; Nascimento 2000).
Since 1976, fish farming has been inactive, which also contributed to the Kariri-
37
Shoco decision to occupy this land in 1978 (Mata 1989; Nascimento 2000). In 1978,
the Kariri-Shoco invaded the Fazenda Modelo (225 ha) and in 1993 the government
expelled the posseiros from the Cercado Grande area (220 ha). Conflicts between
Indians and non-Indians were aggravated when Kariri-Shoco land claims over the
whole Sementeira (445 ha.) area were officially validated in 1993 (Atlas 1993; Mata
Fazenda Modelo area their habitat in 1978, leaving behind their poor houses in the
“Street of the Caboclos,” where they had lived at least since the 1940s. These Kariri-
be “20m² per family” and “lived in unsanitary conditions” (Nascimento 2000, 39),
since the buildings were not meant for human habitation. In eighteen constructed
areas, only nine contained houses. In 1981 the Canadian Embassy, after an employee
visited the area, financed the construction of sixty houses (each having a dining room,
a kitchen and two bedrooms) for families who were living in the worst conditions
(Mata 1989). Nascimento (2000) registered 172 houses in the year 2000, where 446
Kariri-Shoco families lived, data that according to him reveals “new married couples
continued living with one spouse‟s parents after marriage” (Nascimento 2000, 41).
38
Map 3: Kariri-Shoco Traditional Territory
39
Throughout history, there are 100 ha. of forest that has always been under
Kariri-Shoco people‟s use and control for Ouricuri ritual practices. The Kariri-Shoco
consider this area of forest a sacred land which they also use for collecting medicinal
plants for ritual and cure-healing purposes. Several anthropologists agree that the
secrecy involved in Ouricuri ritual practices has been fundamental to the Kariri-
Shoco‟s maintenance of their indigenous identity (Mata 1989; Mota 1987, 1997;
Nascimento 2000; Silva 1999), particularly over the time they had been considered an
the Kariri-Shoco territorial dimension as this 699.35 ha. (Atlas 1993), which included
the three areas mentioned above: Colônia, Sementeira (including both Fazenda
Modelo and Cercado Grande areas), and the Ouricuri forest. These 699.35 ha.
compose the Kariri-Shoco reserve. Porto Real do Colégio County has a population
estimated at 18,351, where 5,961 people live in the Porto Real do Colégio town,
an estimated population of 1,732 Indians, from which 1,312 live inside the reserve
area, while 504 Indians live in Porto Real do Colegio town (Table 1). Nascimento
(2000, 41) estimates that about 300 to 400 Kariri-Shoco live outside Porto Real do
40
Table 1: Kariri-Shoco Demographic Data:
Age Sex Living in the Indian Total
Range Reserve
Male Female Yes No Yes No
0- 05 62 50 81 31 112 - 112
06- 10 142 113 185 70 255 - 255
11-15 131 129 201 59 260 - 260
16-20 125 128 184 69 252 01 253
21-30 187 191 269 109 354 24 378
31-40 115 100 151 64 198 17 215
41-50 71 87 99 59 139 19 158
51-60 42 45 68 19 75 12 87
+ de 60 47 51 74 24 87 11 98
Total 922 894 1.312 504 1.732 84 1.816
Source: FUNAI (2001).
The FUNAI census (Table 1) estimates that 84 individuals, who are not
indigenous people, according to their age ranges they are situated above age 16,
which indicates that they are non-indigenous people engaged in conjugal relationships
individuals is included in the total estimated total population of 1,816 people. Also,
consanguineal descent.9
9
As it was already explained in footnote 2, the Indian Statute establishes
“Indian” as “…all individuals of pre-Colombian origin and ancestral lineage who
identifies himself[/herself] and is identified as belonging to an ethnic group” (Article
3, Section I). In cases of mixed marriages between indigenous and non-indigenous
peoples, the Indian‟s identity of the non-indigenous spouse depends in what the
ethnic group establishes to incorporate or not the non-indigenous spouse. For
example, I found among the Kariri-Shoco those who do not participate in the Ouricuri
ritual living outside the reserve (in Porto Real do Colégio town), and were considered
Kariri-Shoco Indians because of consanguineal descent. On the other hand, there are
non-indigenous spouses who are living inside the reserve and they are not considered
Indians. Legal rights for a non-indigenous to be considered Indian follow how the
ethnic group incorporate non-indigenous individuals in their community, which in the
case of the Kariri-Shoco, according to my observations, the consanguineal descent is
41
During the twentieth century, the Kariri-Shoco population has greatly
registered a total of 200 Indians. Nascimento (2000) explains that the high rate of
demographic growth, which has recently increased by 300% (from 1978 to the year
2000) relates to the return of those who had traveled to other places and decided to
return after the acquisition of Fazenda Modelo (225 ha.) in 1978. Nascimento (2000)
also mentions that better control of endemic diseases (through vaccines and medical
assistance provided by SPI and later FUNAI), the decreased rate of infant mortality,
traditional early marriages, and the prestige of large families have also contributed to
demographic growth.
Mata (1989) calls attention to how the events of 1978 have influenced and
revitalized indigenous subjectivity. They not only provided for a return of dispersed
relatives to the reserve but this was also when mixed marriages became beneficial,
particularly because they are in a region where there is scarcity of land. In the census
reserve married with Kariri-Shoco individuals. Warren (2001, 102) analyzes Indian
resurgence in Brazil and mentions that in the Kariri-Shoco‟s case, for example, “a
(Warren 2001, 102), when Indian identity and land claims had concomitantly been
validated. Warren (2001) does not consider that the Kariri-Shoco population growth
the most important criteria. The children of those mixed marriages are legally
recognized as descendants, therefore, Indians.
42
is directly associated to Kairi-Shoco consanguineal relatives who were living in other
cities and very often used to come to Ouricuri rituals.10 Thus, when land claims
started to be validated (since 1978) many of those Kariri-Shoco individuals who were
living far-away, decided to come back or start to live within Kariri-Shoco reserve.
Several of these cases are Kariri-Shoco individuals who had already married non-
indigenous.
On the other hand, indigenous rights‟ recognition through the recent Kariri-
Shoco land acquisition (after 1978) have led to even more tense and conflictive
1993 when several posseiros (squatters) were expelled by the government from
Cercado Grande (220 ha.) for Kariri-Shoco occupation (Nascimento 2000). At the
same time, this governmental recognition of the Kariri-Shoco‟s rights have shown
that Kariri-Shoco identity or ancestry, which can always be claimed by those who
have even distant kinship bonds, has provided not only economic advantages
assistance (through agencies like FUNAI and, for healthcare, the National Health
Foundation (FUNASA).
Indian local populations, where intermarriage still very often occurs. Among the
Shucuru-Kariri from Palmeira dos Índios County, intermarriage with non-Indians was
the preferential marriage during the twentieth century (Martins 1994). Among the
10
Several case studies are examples of these individuals as Kariri-Shoco
consanguineal relatives who used to live outside Porto Real do Colegio town, like
Vanda, who is a midwife among the Kariri-Shoco, Dona Marieta, the oldest shamanic
specialist, and Christie, a woman case study, and several others.
43
Kariri-Shoco, although several recent cases of intermarriage between Indians and
non-Indians can be observed, very often member of younger and older generations
explain the importance of exclusively indigenous intermarriages as the best option for
them. Even a person who had married a non-Indian may share this opinion. Most of
the Kariri-Shoco explain that since non-Indians are not allowed to participate in the
The Kariri-Shoco often use the expression cabeça-seca (dry-head) when they
refer to non-Indians, which is a term that seems to mean those who do not know
indigenous knowledge and sacred secrets. Also, very often Kariri-Shoco healers refer
to those who practice African Brazilian religions as being malfeitosos (dreadful ones)
who practice black magic. Thus, strong ethnic boundaries are established through
religious ritual and also medical practices which relate to indigenous shamanistic
knowledge.
ecological changes, which have affected mainly agricultural usage of the river‟s edge,
as well as resulting in the lack of fishing (Mata 1989; Mota 1987; Nascimento 2000).
Northeast Brazil “live regularly with hunger and malnutrition” (Sampaio 1995, 31)
and the Kariri-Shoco, located in the semi-arid area (called Agreste), do not have
sufficient productive land for agriculture. This is the principal cause of their poverty
44
and hunger (Sampaio 1995). The Kariri-Shoco situation of scarcity is less related pre-
existing lack of productive land than to Kariri-Shoco and poor regional population
of horticulture or farming and fishing, which have been mostly male activities. It is
from the 1970s, after several hydroelectric projects were built through the São
Francisco River course, that Kariri-Shoco and other regional populations from the
São Francisco River valley were harmed. The economic consequences of ecological
changes have affected traditional ways of subsistence, which, for the Kariri-Shoco,
relates basically to the work in rice plantations where they were hired and paid as
daily workers (Mata 1989; Nascimento 2000). The rice plantations, which were the
main resource of remunerated work, could not be cultivated anymore in the flat lands
where the river floods had previously irrigated and fertilized the river‟s edge,
São Francisco valley, affecting mainly the poor regional population‟s means of
subsistence.
The making of pottery (a female activity) and also the production of bricks
and tiles (a male activity) have been the income activities least affected by these
ecological changes. Usually made during summer, pottery has been considered
throughout their history as the most important economic activity for Kariri-Shoco
15,500 units of earthenware pottery in 1951. The Kariri-Shoco male activity of the
45
making bricks and tiles has some limitation since non-Indians also make these and
The Kariri-Shoco are under the assistance of FUNAI, which is the agency
that succeeded SPI in 1967. Under the Ministry of Justice, FUNAI has a central
using employees who also work directly on the reserves and who can be Indian
persons themselves. It is in Maceio City, the capital of Alagoas state, where the
the Kariri-Shoco reserve, employees are mostly Kariri-Shoco Indians. For example,
the Kariri-Shoco chief of the FUNAI Post, who coordinates the work of other FUNAI
local employees, has held this position for several years. Of five teachers who worked
in the elementary school placed in Sementeira area, only one was non-Indian. Also as
local FUNAI employees, two technicians in agriculture (one Shucuru-Kariri and the
other Kariri-Shoco) worked in agriculture, such as planning, for example, the tractor‟s
According to Oliveira Filho (1988), Indian ethnic groups in Brazil live in this
with Brazilian national society, ecological environments, and the cultural specificity
of each group, but they are all characterized by a situation of domination through the
tutelage system. From what I have observed among the Kariri-Shoco (and also the
46
Shucuru-Kariri), this domination relates to political and economic interdependencies
established between Indians themselves and non-Indians under the actions of tutelage
organs during history; both SPI and FUNAI have had similar practices. These
agencies have maintained political and economic control of the reserved areas. For
example, the role of the Cacique indigenous political leader has been legitimated by
the FUNAI as the one who mediates economic and political relations between Indians
social process from which inter-ethnic relations have been characterized. For
example, the reserve system that the SPI model maintained directed political and
Shoco become productive rural workers. The FUNAI assistance, even today, supplies
the Kariri-Shoco with seeds, fuel for and maintenance of the tractor (which belongs to
the “Indian post”), chemical fertilizers, pesticides, tools for agriculture (axes, etc.),
and other materials, upon which they depend for subsistence agriculture on parcel of
lands which Kariri-Shoco people use within the reserve. Oliveira Filho (1988)
throughout history from which indigenous institutions have been articulated within
Nascimento (2000) calls attention to the fact that although the Kariri-Shoco
currently have available land for economic usage, they depend on FUNAI‟s
assistance more than ever to sustain their agriculture for subsistence, where “the lack
of a native model for economic resource exploitation aggravates even more their
47
situation” (Nascimento 2000, 45). Nascimento (2000) argues that since the traditional
regional economic structure has been affected by state interventions in the region,
which have interfered directly with subsistence means for working on non-Indian
properties, the Kariri-Shoco have less access to food and autonomy than before. Thus,
paradoxically, although Kariri-Shoco have had land claims rights recognition, they
have been impoverished and have become even more vulnerable and dependent on
contemporary model of health and health services for Indian ethnic groups determines
which works directly with Indian rights, and Fundação Nacional de Saúde-The
provided by the public health system through local municipal and state healthcare
which is part of the Ministry of Health. The local biomedical assistance, which
for Indian ethnic groups in Alagoas and Sergipe states is located in Maceio city
(Brasil 2000). The health services are provided through local (municipal) and regional
48
Northeast Brazil reflects the new policy of the Brazilian government on health
services for Indian ethnic groups. Although the authors based their suggestions on
utilize both the Western biomedical system and traditional medical systems, these
among the Pankararu that would constitute their traditional medical practice (Martins
2000). This example shows that the biomedical one will probably continue to be the
only medical system considered useful by government health services for indigenous
reserve Sementeira area which offers primary healthcare, and where a medical doctor,
a dentist, a psychologist, a nurse, five nursing assistants, and two health assistants
compose the FUNASA healthcare team. During my fieldwork, the psychologist and
the dentist were transferred to another indigenous area and the nurse position
remained unfilled. The two health assistants, who are Kariri-Shoco individuals, work
directly with the people; their activities include visiting families to ask about health
problems and to schedule appointments with the local medical doctor. Among the
nursing assistants, only one was non-indigenous and lived in Porto Real do Colegio
town. It is after the Sementeira health clinic medical doctor‟s diagnosis that a Kariri-
who need to have medical exams to be prepared for surgery and or be assisted by a
specialized medical doctor have to travel to Penedo or Maceio cities, where FUNASA
49
healthcare. Kariri-Shoco patients are transferred to these hospitals by ambulance
necessary. Several studies have shown that populations located in poor regions
receive public health services of precarious quality (Accioly and Carvalho 1998;
Citele, Souza and Portella 1998; Perpétuo 2000; Sanematsu 1998; Scheper-Hughes
contexts, like in the Pankararu‟s case, have exercised a power related to their
the colonial process, from which, despite political, economic, and cultural constraints,
50
CHAPTER III
THEORETICAL CONTEXT
The research that I have conducted among the Kariri-Shoco has focused on
perspectives utilized for understanding diverse ethnographic data from the field
literature review focuses on theoretical perspectives and key concepts that were used
The main theoretical fields from which I have conducted ethnographic research
While female embodiment has been explored within feminist theory as the major
research background, the reproductive female body and shamanism are considered
51
3.1.1. Feminist Theory on Female Embodiment
that demarcate and inscribe female and male bodies have been fundamental themes of
focus on how the female body has been the site of power relations in gendered
Ortner 1996; Rich 1976, 1983; Scott 1996, 1999; Yanakisako and Collier 1987) to
how the sexual corporeal differences demarcate the interwoven characteristics of the
body through systems of meanings and representations (Butler 1990, 1993; Grosz
1994; Irigaray 1974, 1977; Young 1990). Although feminist ideas are not
homogeneous, what is shared among different trends is the focus on power, and on
sexual differences, which are sources of social control and objects of gendered
are two central concepts that have been present in feminist theories. They are both
and phallic cultural conventions” through “discourse and power” (Butler 1990, 30),
52
of male domination in which by force, direct pressure, or through ritual, tradition,
law, language, customs, etiquette, education, and the division of labor, determines
and maintains female oppression through social and gendered inequality” (Rich 1983,
57). These notions, which have been constructed and experienced within Western
societies, demonstrate that much of the feminist theory has been formulated through
Western concepts and problems. Feminist anthropologists and philosophers have had
I do not directly discuss and analyze how phallogocentrism and patriarchy constitute
factors for female oppression among the Kariri-Shoco, I consider the concept of
context.
According to Grosz (1994) these three groups of feminist theory demarcate diverse
considered.
53
cure-healing practices) and Kariri-Shoco knowledge on sexual differences are
fundamental themes researched. Thus, the theoretical perspectives useful for the
research topics about gender belong to the author‟s ideas from the body of feminist
theory where sexual difference has been the mainstream for approaching female
clarify my identification and use of the third group‟s ideas as the feminist theoretical
orientation for this research. This explanation is also important regarding relating
feminism (de Beauvoir 1974; Rich 1976, 1983; O‟Brien 1981), have developed
studies analyzing how biological reproductive aspects characterize the female body
from which they point out that these have been a source for male domination. In these
works, the term woman is used through the assumption that it denotes a common
identity and that the female body is the focus of a gender-differentiated subjectivity.
In some sense, these authors develop a biologism or naturalism perspective since they
54
1994, 16-17; Butler 1990). Since the 1980s critics have moved to point out how
problematic the essentialist perspective is. They argue that gender must be considered
in terms of its different historical contexts and its intersections with racial, class,
The split between biological sex and gender, which characterized „social
demarcate differences within the category of woman (Butler 1990). From this
gender through its cultural and political meaning constructions. They started working
with the vision that inequalities are not produced from the female body, nor are they
female relationships (as the essentialists conceived), but that social, racial, and ethnic
Yanakisako and Collier (1987), Ortner (1996), Alcoff (1994), and Scott
(1996), are representative of this new framework. They propose analysis of gender
from its particular context and investigation on how political inequalities reflect the
social identity (Scott, 1996; Ortner, 1996), “a posit or construct” (Alcoff, 1994).
These authors focus on subjectivity through conceptual positions from which gender
is approached through its non-unitary character and its social and historical
55
reproduction of difference provide the basis for the understanding of gendered
embodiment.
Joan Scott‟s (1996) definition of gender has largely influenced studies in this
field in Brazil. She formulates a notion of gender inside an analytical proposal, which
(Scott 1996, 167), where four interrelated elements are involved, including “cultural
biological sex” (Scott 1996, 167-169). Scott (1996) explains that her analytical
class, race, ethnicity, or, any social process” (Scott 1996, 168). She calls attention to
the notion that gender is the “primary field within which or by means of which power
is articulated” (Scott 1996, 169) and she also mentions that “gender is constructed
through kinship, but not exclusively” (Scott 1996, 168), since it is also interrelated
gender in Brazil. For example, the anthropologist Claudia Fonseca (1996, 16)
these studies within the academic environment in which Scott‟s (1996) contribution
has been influential in the way in which the political element is articulated in the
definition of gender. The sociologist Mary Castro (1996) discusses the importance of
56
a gender perspective in analyses of women and work in Latin America. She mentions
the “demarcation of power relationships” (Castro 1996, 66), and also that it is a new
reference to “the understanding of the place of women and men within culturally
relationships within a peasant political movement for land claims in southern Brazil,
finds in Scott‟s (1996) ideas support to explain that the study of the subjective
history. Lechat (1996) mentions that she follows Scott (1996) who redefines and
enlarges the traditional notions of what is historically important through personal and
conditions for women‟s lives (Citele, Souza and Portella 1998; Lechat 1996; Perpétuo
2000; Sanematsu 1998; Scheper-Hughes 1985, 1988, 1992; Tanaka 2000). Thus,
gender, race, and class relations have been articulated and considered for analysis of
through which the aspiration towards „equality‟ between men and women or
them) have been considered relevant matters for intellectual and academic feminist
57
Grosz (1994) and Butler (1990, 1994), who are representative of feminists of
the third group (“sexual difference” approaches), have formulated critiques on the
consideration of gender that “social constructionism” has been utilizing. Grosz (1994,
16) argues that this feminist view, which includes the majority of feminists today
who have coded women through the nature-culture dualism; these second-wave
feminist theorists have reproduced the mind-body dualism, where the mind is
considered “as social, cultural, and historical object, a product of ideology,” and the
Butler (1990) mentions that the sense of gender as a construct implies a vision
8) that “determines a cultural meaning for itself” (Butler 1990, 8). It is exactly
performative, and tries to overlap the mind-body dualism through a notion of gender
(Butler 1990, 136) in which “acts, gestures, and desire produce the effect of an
(1990) argues that it is culture, not biology (as in the essentialist perspective) that
becomes what determines gendered subjects and, in this sense, as Grosz (1994) has
observed, the body remains a “raw material,” and “naturalistic.” For Butler (1990),
whether conceiving gender as derived from biological sex (an essentialist view) or
58
gender as a “free-floating artifice” (in a radical independence assumption of sex and
The “truth of sex,” according to Butler (1990) “is produced precisely through
the regulatory practices that generate coherent identities through the matrix of
coherent gender norms” (Butler 1990, 17). Thus, the intelligibility of genders
“institute and maintain relations of coherence and continuity among sex, gender,
sexual practice, and desire” (Butler 1990, 17). It is through the formulation of the
“heterosexual matrix” concept that Butler (1990) explains that gender identity has
intelligibility that assumes that for bodies to cohere and make sense there must be a
stable sex expressed through a stable gender (masculine expresses male, feminine
attention that the “heterosexualization of desire requires and institutes the production
This gender notion pointed out by Butler (1990), based on her critique of the
essentialist and social constructionist views, from which she formulates the
among the Kariri-Shoco, since Butler (1990) calls attention to discursive domains
59
where language expresses boundaries of gender possibilities and constraints (through
heterosexuality.
articulating biological sex and gender from a discursive domain, where she identifies
a coherence that makes gender intelligible, and this coherence is itself a mechanism
of power. Like Foucault (1983, 1990a, 1990b, 1990c), Butler (1990) explains and
frameworks in which a “truth of sex” and “mechanisms of power” are produced. For
Butler (1990), the biological sex and gendered body are articulated in a discursive
This theoretical perspective seems actually useful in the way that, in order to
existential ground.
remains in the representational domain through text and discourse, could be addressed
60
through an account of lived and existential experiences. Thus, it is through Kariri-
Shoco women‟s lived experiences that an approach to their female embodiment was
theoretical views. In the third group of feminist theorists, Grosz (1994) explains that,
contrasting with other groups, “the body is par excellence regarded as a historical,
approach on the female body related to this perception that the body expresses
culture. From this theoretical framework, sexual differences and gender distinctions
were examined among the Kariri-Shoco, considering the female body through a
shamanistic knowledge and practices. The Kariri-Shoco female body politic was
out, influenced by Merleau-Ponty (1962), that the body is “both object (for others)
and a lived reality (for the subject)” (Grosz 1994, 87), but never remains or is
restricted to being object or subject. The body, for Grosz (1994), has a dynamic and
fluid interaction with objects. At the same time as defining objects as such, in her
organization, and ground within which objects are to be situated and against which
61
the body-subject is positioned” (Grosz 1994, 87). Thus, the relation between the
subject and objects is marked not by causality, but is fundamentally “based on sense
developed an approach to the body in the Kariri-Shoco cultural context, where the
a biological given, but the body in a sense of being, of existing, literally of making
sense. For Grosz (1994), although the body and sexual difference are matters of
cultural inscription and codification, they are never raw material for these
inscriptions. She focuses on the body as “inside out” and “outside in” surfaces, and
she argues that its materiality attests to embodiment, corporeality, and alterity (sexual,
ethnic, aging) according to cultural specificities. She also suggests that feminist
approach embodied subjectivity. According to him, “the theory of the body is already
and perception can provide a basis for approaching and articulating the mind-body
62
and subject-object problematic, in which embodied subjectivity can be considered as
the perceiving „subject + the corporeal subject‟, that moves and is moved by the body
The theoretical perspectives that I have utilized for data analysis relate to this
third group of feminist theoretical perception of sexual difference. Thus, the female
body is considered not as a biological given reality, nor as a space where cultural
constructs are founded. Theoretical perspectives from which the female body has
domain, and Grosz‟s (1994) notion, influenced by Merleau-Ponty (1962), that there is
an embodied subjectivity based on the „open‟ materiality of the body, which attests to
The female reproductive body has been considered through wide fields of
Reproduction” has produced studies that associate cultural, social, and political
female embodiment have influenced these studies. For example, the notion of the
female body as the space for cultural inscription, as conceived by feminists from the
social constructionist group, has formed most of the background of these studies. It is
63
through ethnographic and historical studies that researchers have critically considered
socioculturally and politically constructed. Thus, gender politics have been the
background and focus for approaching human reproduction and the female body
politic.
during their life-cycle in the context of plural medical practices, two main theoretical
and analyzed.
of biomedical knowledge over women‟s bodies. Such studies have pointed out
through critical frameworks how pregnancy, childbirth, and the menstrual cycle have
been medicalized. They show how physiological reproductive processes have been
concept of medicalization is a central issue in these studies that show how women
have challenged, resisted and or complied with biomedical practices in the context of
their lived experiences (Browner and Sargent 1990; Davis-Floyd 1988, 1990;
Ginsburg and Rapp 1991, 1995; Handwerker 1990; Hyatt 1999; Kaufert and O‟Neil
64
Another important concept used here to approach the Kariri-Shoco female
reproductive body that was formulated in studies about pregnancy and childbirth is
the notion of “authoritative knowledge.” Jordan (1978) explains that “for any
come to carry more weight than others, either because they explain the state of the
world better for the purposes at hand, or because they are associated with a stronger
power base” (Jordan 1978, 152). Thus, the notion of authoritative knowledge,
according to Jordan (1978), relates to which system comes to carry the most weight,
from which the legitimization of one way of knowing as being more valuated
characterizes an authoritative and more valid knowledge, while others are dismissed
or devaluated. This notion helped to focus on the role and interplay of biomedicine in
interactions (Abel and Browner 1998; Browner and Press 1996; Davis-Floyd 1988,
1990; Davis-Floyd and Davis 1996; Davis-Floyd and Sargent 1996; Fiedler 1996;
Georges 1996; Hays 1996; Jordan 1978; Sesia 1996). They call attention to the recent
what Davis-Floyd (1988, 1990) explored through the “technocratic,” “holistic” and
“natural” Western models of birth as belief systems and rites of passage women
choose in the United States. The ideas behind logical arguments and symbolic issues
65
domination related to patriarchy, and to biomedical knowledge through the
medicalization process.
considered fundamental paths followed for the understanding of their way of dealing
implicit gender notions contained in their reproductive logic and behavior (Browner
how different sexual bodies, and particularly women‟s menstrual blood, conception
and pregnancy, are culturally perceived and embedded with symbolic meanings. In
this sense, bodily fluids were related to the biological body‟s permeability,
boundaries, and marginalities, which involve sex differentiated bodies and in which
the differences are culturally, socially and symbolically constructed (Grosz 1994).
The theoretical analytic model and conceptions of the third group of feminists
who focus on sexual difference, such as Butler (1990) and Grosz (1994), have guided
66
Kariri-Shoco women‟s experiences related to their reproductive female body, from
models and practices, and have examined aspects of medical systems, such as
with events related to cure-healing, suffering, disease, sickness, and distress that
imply representations, actions, and experiences people have within their bodies.
One of the main research concerns was to focus on the interrelation between
important matters for research. Thus, during the field research it was fundamental to
gendered and embodied (health) problem, which required diagnosis, treatment, and
healing (Csordas and Kleinman 1990), particularly on issues related to the female
pluralism in which the choices of treatment that people take are both indigenous, and
67
Western biomedical. Theoretical approaches to the therapeutic processes (people‟s
active responses to illness, disease, and distress) have explained that they can take
place in the domain of religious or traditional healing or folk practices, along with
Young and Garro 1981). Kariri-Shoco shamanism, as a medical practice, has not only
occupied the space for indigenous medical knowledge from which specialized
shamans compose an indigenous healthcare system, but also the plural medical
groups from Northeast Brazil, and also through relationships with non-indigenous
people.
method in the medical anthropological field, and who have carried out critical and
theoretical approaches on its relation to biomedicine (Good 1994; Good and Good
1993; Hahn 1995; Kleinman 1995; Strathern and Stewart 1999). Good‟s (1994)
notion of illness, which was utilized in dealing with Kariri-Shoco medical issues,
upon, departing from its constituting role in social processes. This perspective was
followed during the field research when my concerns as to focus upon shamanism as
68
a medical practice in which combined aspects of embodied gendered therapeutic
the realm of beliefs. Evans-Pritchard (1937) has been an example that Good (1994)
uses to show how medical issues have been conceived and described by
empiricist paradigm, and points out how “representation of others‟ culture as „beliefs‟
authorizes the position and knowledge of the anthropologist [as] observer” (Good
knowledge” (Good 1994, 20). This juxtaposition can be identified in several studies
on shamanism, even in those where symbolic anthropology has been applied. Several
authors have used, in their ethnographic studies, the notion of belief alternatively with
(1996), and McCallum (1996) provide examples of studies that focus on central
native shamanistic conceptions, which they consider as metaphors or symbols that are
their conceptions of the universe, the forces that make or provide “well-being” or “ill-
health,” and the nature and source of shamanic power. It was through investigating
the significance of the term dau (power) that Langdon (1992b) examined how the
69
shaman gains and possesses “dau,” which provides him with an ability to “understand
and influence the forces responsible for well-being” (Langdon 1992b, 42). She
explains that only after they recognize a sickness that the expression “dying from a
dau” (Langdon 1992b, 42) is used, an expression which she identifies as having a
(supernatural or substance dau) depends on “the history of the illness and its response
to treatment” (Langdon 1992b, 51). She concludes that dau is a key symbol in Siona
shamanism which expresses a “general conception of energy or power” and that “the
1992b, 52). In this analysis, Langdon (1992b) argues that Siona shamanism is the
focus of knowledge and power, which is embodied within the shaman‟s body and also
eastern Peru relates to health. Illius (1992, 63) explains that “nihue” contains “the
individual essence” which causes illness: thus, it is a central concern for medical
treatments of “nihue” according to thirty curing songs, and he also classifies “nihue”
(consistency, smell, light or colours, motion, and temperatures) according to the nihue
illustrates rituals and techniques used by the shamans who restore health through
70
curing songs and visions induced by ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.), from which the
shaman identifies, diagnoses, and treats the patient. Illius (1992) credits a Shipibo-
Conibo shaman‟s ability to cure to his knowledge and his understanding of the case
McCallum (1996) departs from a focus on Cashinaua (from Brazil and Peru)
epistemology of the body in order to explain their verbal and medical techniques and
conceptions that transform their bodies into “the body that knows” McCallum 1996,
347). She discusses how they conceive that the healthy body is in constant process of
“social action and speech” (McCallum 1996, 347). She suggests that medical
constitutes a “medical anthropology per se” (McCallum 1996, 365) of the peoples.
focus on gender power, and knowledge. He also identifies a central concept (“dori”),
which the Culina conceive as a substance that shamans acquire through the process of
becoming shamans and which makes them able to manipulate it. According to
Pollock (1992, 27), Culina shamans are the ones who can transform themselves into
spirits and who have the ability to diagnose and treat serious illnesses of mystical
and women, between the properties that “comprise their innermost differentiation
qualities and their public contributions to social life” (Pollock 1992, 25).
71
It is interesting that, in a later publication, Pollock (1996) approaches the
illness. Through a different discourse, Pollock (1996) now describes the Kulina‟s
context of illness as beliefs: he mentions that the Kulina classify as external (on the
outside of the body) and internal (within the body, originated from mystical causes)
ethnomedicine as a cultural belief (Pollock 1996), where he does not even explain the
publication was for the medical anthropological community and Pollock‟s (1996)
regions, which focuses on the body as a matrix of symbols and thoughts (see DaMatta
1976; DaMatta, Seeger and Viveiros de Castro 1987; Seeger 1980, 1981; Viveiros de
element in these cultures is an emphasis on the body. This provides a particularly rich
elaboration of the notion of person, where the body is the reference point for the
72
comprehension of the social organization and cosmology of these societies: thus, the
body is “a focal symbolic idiom” (DaMatta, Seeger and Viveiros de Castro 1987,
12).
translated into a system of magical actions and reactions” (Mota 1987, 147). Other
examples illustrate this: “plants are believed to be an intrinsic part of the pursuit for
power” (Mota 1987, 149); or “certain uses and practices are directly related to
specific beliefs and imply the development of an initiation process” (Mota 1987,
150). In this last statement, she is not explaining how they transmit specific
“system of beliefs.”
The significance of cure among the Kariri-Shoco, as Mota (1987) points out,
has a dual meaning based on the “physical and spiritual aspects of someone‟s life: in
the first meaning, cure seems to re-establish physical wellness and also to ward off
evil, to be blessed to have spiritual strength restored upon one; as a second meaning, a
double-edged one, it has both positive (meaning strength, being blessed, having good
energy) and negative (meaning that the person has been bewitched) meanings” (Mota
1987, 152). Then bad events (not only a negative physical manifestation) in everyday
affairs can mean that a cure (inversed healing) has been perpetrated against that
person, and he or she has to take special herbal medicines to be cured (healed)
positively.
73
Mota (1987, 232) explains that the Kariri-Shoco‟s “animistic theory of the
According to her, they differentiate dead spirits (souls of the dead persons, which
continue to live in forests, villages and places where they used to live when they were
alive) from live spirits, “beings who are alive in humans, animals, vegetal” (Mota
1987, 232). She explains that illnesses are caused by “live spiritual beings that enter a
233). Everyone who participates in Ouricuri‟s ritual “learns how to utilize nature‟s
power, as everyone becomes empowered by a special plant” (Mota 1987, 239). She
also observes that the Kariri-Shoco conceptualize relationships between the “type of
healing” and the “type of illness,” and there are “spiritually-provoked illness,” which
phenomenon that reveals how political minorities resist domination and maintain
society” (Mota 1987, 12). The utilitarian (economic) and political sense of this
knowledge, she relates to the relation of power shamans maintain with non-Indians
monetary means) and their powerful secret knowledge, which members of the
national Brazilian society fear. I found this interpretation extremely interesting, and
74
probably this view of shamanism-resistance can contribute to the understanding of
peoples.
relationship, which reflects a context of plural medical practices. She mentions that
when the shaman and other healers feel unable to heal, they do not hesitate to send
the person to modern medical doctors, and the shaman himself also makes use of
those health services. She affirms that the difference between the two systems is that
the Kariri-Shoco medicine “comes from sacralized grounds, obtained through occult
that they are able to cure-heal biomedically diagnosed diseases. Mota‟s (1987, 272-
medicinal plants that address health problems and that do not come exclusively from
„sacralized grounds‟.
animism-cosmology, which she relates to theories of health and illness, and reflects
on their values and power (in ethnic and interethnic domains). She builds on a
75
positive (healing) and negative (inversed healing) meanings, are part of their
shamanism presented here departs from the perspective that shamanic (ritual) healing
involves experiences which, more than beliefs, are related to knowledge (Good 1994).
In the case of shamanism, it is interesting to note that the shamans are the ones who
diagnose and treat disease-illness, and they can also be the ones who provoke or send
a disease-illness upon someone. Since knowledge involves power, shamans have been
identified as the ones who hold a power related to their knowledge (Langdon 1992a).
to the fact that South American shamanisms share characteristics of power, social
(Langdon 1992b, Illius 1992; McCallum 1996; Perrin 1992; Pollock 1992), as a
matter of cultural beliefs (Baer 1992; Pollock 1996), or as both knowledge and belief
focusing on the role and the social construction of the shaman (Baer 1992; Perrin
(Langdon 1992b; Illius 1992; Mota 1987, 1996, 1997; Taussig 1987), or on the
76
performance of shamanistic (ritual) healing (Briggs 1996; Desjarlais 1996; Laderman
77
CHAPTER IV
METHODOLOGY
knowledge" (Pink 2001, 18), where interpretation and representation of the cultural
context is based upon ethnographers' own experiences. During this research process
among the Kariri-Shoco, information was collected relating to the research topics as a
basic procedure for doing ethnography. At the same time, a fundamental position
during the fieldwork was the recognition of “the centrality of [my] subjectivity [as a]
the realism of research data collection, while subjectivity (as my own experience and
perception) and intersubjectivities (as the shared experiences and perceptions between
peoples that I researched and me) guided the whole research process from which
the ethnographic research and the methods utilized during field research among the
78
Kariri-Shoco. I begin with a brief account of my first contacts with the Kariri-Shoco
people and my daily life in Porto Real do Colegio; I also explain how data were
registered and recorded, gathered, and organized as planned and realized during my
field research. Then in the following section, I discuss how I conducted surveys from
which selected case studies were chosen as the principal method of qualitative data
collection. In the third section, I describe and explain how visual anthropology
section I discuss the ethical issues research, particularly in relation to sensitive topics
investigated.
It is not solely the subjectivity of the researcher that may 'shade' his or her
understanding of 'reality', but the relationship between the subjectivities of
researcher and informants that produces a negotiated version of reality (Pink
2001, 20).
The first contact I had with Kariri-Shoco peoples happened when I conducted
field research among Shucuru-Kariri (from Palmeira dos Índios, Alagoas state) in
1993. At that time I learned that the Kariri-Shoco had taught the Shucuru-Kariri the
practices of the Ouricuri ritual.11 That was the reason why Kariri-Shoco peoples
would very often come to visit and participate in the Ouricuri ritual among the
11
In Chapter VIII, I explain how the Shucuru-Kariri from Mata da Cafurna
started to participate in the Kariri-Shoco Ouricuri ritual.
79
shamanism. The Ouricuri ritual involves sacred secrets from which cure-healing
practices derive.
The first time I visited the Kariri-Shoco reserve in Porto Real do Colegio, it
was in the month of April, 2001, when I contacted both the Pajé Júlio and the Cacique
Cícero. I told them about my intention to conduct field research among the Kariri-
Shoco. Pajé Júlio was very receptive to the research, but Cacique Cícero asked me
start the ethnographic research. The political and religious leaders‟ approvals were
required to achieve the official authorization of FUNAI (the agency responsible for
Indians‟ rights). It was after FUNAI consulted both the Conselho Nacional de
analysis of my research proposal and Kariri-Shoco leaders (who gave their approval
for the research) that I received FUNAI‟s permission to conduct the ethnographic
ethnographic studies among the Kariri-Shoco. Mata (1989), Mota (1987, 1997),
Nascimento (2000), and Silva (1999) are contemporary examples. I did not feel,
however, that these previous experiences that the Kariri-Shoco had from contacts
80
research. As my research was within a new field of knowledge (on medical
particularly for female shamanic specialists and reproductive women, who had never
been the main subjects of any research conducted among the Kariri-Shoco.
During my first visit to the Kariri-Shoco reserve, I met one of the oldest
shamanic specialists, with whom I was already familiar from Mota's (1987, 1997) and
Silva's (1999; 2003) writings. Dona Marieta was living with one of her daughters and
received me, and I was one of many people who came to be blessed by her when they
accomplish what she knew how to do so well: she prayed on me. This gesture made
me experience and discover from the beginning how “reza” (“prayer”) rituals, like
the one that she performed on me, were a fundamental source of embodied
I realized later that reza rituals performed by shamanic specialists had a power
and purpose not limited to cure-healing. Among the Kariri-Shoco, it is from reza
rituals that shamanic specialists can diagnose and find out what is causing suffering
or health problems. During cure-healing sessions, shamanic specialists are able to feel
through the body what is the cause of suffering. From my experience, I understood
that Dona Marieta had the intention to make sure that I did not have any health
problem. She performed ritualized prayers, which also had the purpose of providing
me with protection through „closing‟ my body. When I told her that she would get
tired of my presence, since I was moving to Porto Real do Colégio and would be in
81
contact with her constantly, she told me that she never got tired of kindness. From
this first contact we were very much attached through a strong and affective bond.
The field research involved personal life changes, which not only I
experienced. I have my family (my husband, a seven year-old daughter and five year-
old son) close to me. The whole process of taking my doctoral degree has provided all
cities like Winnipeg, where the University of Manitoba is located, and Porto Real do
Colégio, where the Kariri-Shoco live, as places for our homes. My personal life was
attached to the fieldwork, since my family and I were part of the whole research
process and were interacting with Kariri-Shoco neighbors and friends daily. I learned
From May, 2001, we lived in a rented house in Porto Real do Colegio on the
street of the Caboclos, where approximately fifteen Kariri-Shoco families also live.
My children were registered in a Catholic private school in Propria City (in Sergipe
state, across the São Francisco River from Porto Real do Colégio), where a few
Kariri-Shoco children also attend this school. My husband and I, in our daily routines,
included transporting our children to and from school, having dinner as our biggest
daily meal together at noon, and gathering for supper usually at 6 p.m. Thus, my
daily life included a routine for my private life while interacting with Kariri-Shoco
people as a married woman who was the mother of two children. The fact that I had
my family with me during field research earned me respect, since I was considered to
be a responsible person, and also provided a sense that I was living a regular life
there.
82
On the other hand, as an outsider, I realized that I occupied a particular status
that made Kariri-Shoco people in general treat me with respect that seemed more
became aware that their respect reflected an implicit power attribution. For example,
even older people used to address me as senhora (ma‟m, Mrs.) and call me “Dona
Silvia,” which were terms that younger people use for older ones. Within the context
of poverty that surrounds people from Porto Real do Colégio County in general, and
but as a rich person. I believe that this characterized the relationships established with
Kariri-Shoco people as power relations during the whole fieldwork, despite my effort
to explain to Kariri-Shoco people my work and role in the field during research.
Facts that contributed to make them value my work and me were that I was an
anthropologist and professor from the Federal University of Alagoas, and had come
from a foreign country to conduct field research among them. Sometimes I had the
feeling that they saw my research as a matter of honor for them, because locally they
the reserve area, which was, located about 1 kilometer away from the street of
Caboclos. On the evenings I often stayed at home to organize and analyze data
gathered during the day, and to write my journal. Sometimes during the evenings I
also visited or chatted with next-door neighbors, while watching my children play on
83
Throughout nine months of ethnographic fieldwork, qualitative data were
and or video digital recordings, and having closer relationships with selected case
studies. As case studies were selected, I started to visit them regularly in order to
medical practice), and the historical context of plural medical practices, but also
entailed reflexivity and visual anthropology as methods which provided wide and in-
The ethnographic fieldwork conducted during the first three months (April to
June, 2001) had the purpose of contacting the two main groups who compose the
research case studies: (1) indigenous health practitioners (male and female shamanic
specialists and a midwife) and (2) Kariri-Shoco women. It was also during these first
months of fieldwork that I explored different areas (within the reserve and in Porto
interview schedules (Appendices A and B) from which women case studies were
selected.
In the following months (from July, 2001) the research focused mainly on
to organize data in a way that information from shamanic specialists and a midwife
84
could also complement topics researched among women, particularly about female
and ethnophysiology. In the following section, I discuss the research case studies.
qualitative research, where the subjects' perceptions and experiences were privileged
The research topics, such as embodiment related to sexual difference, shamanism, and
Kariri-Shoco plural medical practices were focused upon, considering particular and
ethnographic interviews were used in order to select and conduct case study research.
from which case studies were selected and how the field research was conducted
among these Kariri-Shoco people. I first report about shamanic specialists, then about
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4.2.1. Indigenous Health Practitioners (Shamanic Specialists and a Midwife) as Case
Studies
survey about who and where Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists were. Although most
of the Kariri-Shoco do not use the term “shaman,” as it will be discussed and
shamanistic knowledge and practices.12 The terms Kariri-Shoco people often use are
rezador (male prayer shaman) or rezadeira (female prayer shaman) and or curandeiro
worked in the Sementeira health clinic (three were nurse assistants, and two were
health assistants), and one was a midwife. Seventeen shamanic specialists were
interviewed from people that Pajé Júlio had mentioned that were rezador, rezadeira
and curandeiro shamans. The other interviewees were selected because they work in
the Sementeira Health clinic. From the month of May 2001, I started to select
indigenous shamanic specialists as case studies, and started to conduct and organize
12
Pajé Júlio and Frederico were the only shamanic specialists who used the
term shaman in ethnographic interviews.
86
descriptive, and structural questions during interviews, according to Spradley‟s
(1979) method.
describing cultural meanings in their “own terms;” thus, cultural data analysis
involves a form of analysis distinct from others used in “social science research”
(Spradley 1979, 92). The main purpose of conducting ethnographic interviews was to
learn what were the meanings of things and experiences for informants. This method
the reserve or who work performing cure-healing practices with indigenous and non-
specialists who assume different roles and practices. All female and male shamanic
specialists selected were specialized in cure-healing practices through the use of reza
rituals and the making of remedies from medicinal plants and animals (in lesser
as shamanic specialists.
I listed in Table 2 (according to age and marital status) a total of ten female
shamanic specialists, and one midwife as case studies selected. I also included six
87
during my field research. I decided to use their identity based on their consent and
also because this procedure is a recognition of their knowledge, which they shared
with me. Most of the selected cases studies were individuals older than fifty. The fact
It was from my experience during the first three months of field research
(April to June, 2001), based on the survey and contacts established with shamanic
88
specialists, and learning from information gathered (observational and registered or
recorded) about them and their cure-healing practices, that I selected ten case studies
of indigenous health practitioners (such as five male shamanic specialists, five female
example, some shamanic specialists were chosen within the same family, where the
mother, son, grandson, and granddaughter were also shamans. This facilitated
observing how specialized knowledge was transmitted between generations and how
gender and age differences relate to their cure-healing practices and roles. As I plan to
describe in the next chapter, shamans as individual cases will be approached through
During the whole process of fieldwork, I also maintained contacts with three
other male shamans and three other female shamans, who were not selected as case
The selection of women as case studies was based on a survey conducted with
a total of fifty Kariri-Shoco women from which two opportunistic samples were made
utilized during the months of April, May, and June, 2001, when women older than
twenty-one years of age were interviewed. I discuss in Chapter VIII quantitative data
89
based on those different surveys when twenty-nine women were interviewed with
interviewed with interview schedule B (Appendix B). Those different samples were
constructed from Kariri-Shoco adult women who were selected opportunistically and
who are mostly ranging in age from twenty-one to fifty years of age. Those
settings inside the reserve and, also, those who lived in Porto Real do Colégio town.
It is estimated from a census taken in 2001 (Table 1 in Chapter II) that 474
Kariri-Shoco women are older than twenty-one years of age (FUNAI 2001). It was
from the total of fifty Kariri-Shoco women interviewed that I have selected case
On the other hand, as a qualitative research without concerns about quantitative data,
women as case studies were selected considering primarily fertility factors for my
From case studies selected, all twelve Kariri-Shoco women are older than
twenty-one years. Table 3 shows the list of individuals selected as women case
studies, according to their approximate age and marital status. Although the marital
status could provide their identity, the imprecision of the age and omission of number
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Table 3: Kariri-ShocoWomen as Cases Studies:
experiences were selected from different settings, including some who live in the city
female embodiment (from which the research focus was directed to investigate
sexuality and sexual difference), and, (2) women with diversified reproductive
experiences (from which the focus was the investigation of their reproductive
experiences). I focused the investigation on both their gender and female embodiment
Among twelve Kariri-Shoco women selected as case studies, two were post-
menopausal, four had opted for tubal ligation, one was infertile, one was fertile and
not using any contraceptive method, and four were pregnant (or started to experience
pregnancy during the fieldwork). Through these case studies, I started to gather
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processes. I found it more complex to select and research women as case studies,
Spradley (1979; 1980), was used as an appropriate research technique for researching
the case studies, since the research concerns with interpretation of symbols,
conducting the case studies, which involved "sequenced tasks" (Spradley 1980, vii;
Since language is the "tool for constructing reality" (Spradley 1979, 17), it
has a fundamental role in both "major ethnographic work tasks" of "discovery" and
process through which some data collection is registered, and analysis of this material
is done "to make sense out of it," and more data collection is registered, and more
analysis is done, in order "to refine interpretation" (Agar 1996, 62). The use of
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research techniques with the DRS method covered, in a useful and appropriate way,
interviews with selected case studies. In research concerned with symbols, meanings,
ethnographic interviews.
following chapter.
and diverse women perceive and deal with the female reproductive body and how
has driven the investigation to link boundaries between the perceptions and
93
During the field research, informal conversation, participant observation, and
ethnographic interviews through case studies focused also on their perceptions of the
plural medical context. The ethnographic research was developed through different
construction.
provided the research with a better assessment of the validity and generality of the
based not only on recording ethnographic interviews of case studies (which were
often digital audio and/or video recorded) but also on visual images recorded that
"invoke[d] meaning and knowledge that [were] of ethnographic interest" (Pink 2001,
18), such as cure-healing rituals and practices and experienced embodied knowledge.
gathering data during the field research among the Kariri-Shoco enriched even more
94
the ethnographic data collection. Visual data registered, particularly during
provided material from which the visual anthropological field had to be considered.
following Collier and Collier (1986, 163), who argue that visual data can be a
technology. The use of this technological resource required that information about
local media culture, and also Kariri-Shoco reaction to the use of digital video
camcorder should be registered. Very often I showed them the images, and gave
printed digital stills as a way of sharing the images registered with them. As
intellectual property, I plan to provide to the Kariri-Shoco all the filmic images (video
footages) that I have recorded of their images. I also plan to edit ethnographic films
me within a relationship of friendship made possible, by their sincerity. not only let
me register audio recordings but also video recordings of their explanations of their
experiences related to reproduction and sexuality. I assured them that the research
identity and interviews. These digital recorded materials from reproductive women‟s
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I obtained a formal written consent from Pajé Júlio, authorizing my use of
during the research process. Although they have authorized the registration and use of
their images (for editing film images and digital still photographic images), I plan to
provide their images to them and work together on the selection of video footages in
order to provide to them possible ethnographic films. The issue of confidentiality and
anonymity gained a different characteristic through the registration of the visual data.
and anonymity matters related to the recognition of their knowledge (on cure-healing
Since shamanic specialists seemed comfortable with the digital recordings and also
with digital video camcorder, I often video recorded their ethnographic interviews
and cultural settings. The frequent use of the camcorder, and also the flexibility and
collection.
I found it important also to observe the cultural visual media that the Kariri-
Shoco use. Radio and very often principally television shows (like soap operas and
other kinds of popular shows) was watched locally by Kariri-Shoco people. I had the
96
opportunity to observe a recording of a TV show when a popular soap opera artist
came to the Kariri-Shoco reserve with other professionals for shooting a TV series
(Barbash and Taylor 1997, 74-75). I have the intention to use both textual and visual
fundamental to assume that "representations are partial, and limited to the perspective
adopted during research” (Barbash and Taylor 1997, 59), but it is a powerful tool to
field research, particularly on the characteristic that film and photographic images are
very often perceived as 'the truth' and as 'an objective reality' (Barbash and Taylor
1997; Davies 1999). According to Ruby (1988), "the maker of images has the moral
which the world can see its 'true' image… So long as our images of the world
continue to be sold to others as the image of the world, we are being unethical" (Ruby
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films” (Barbash and Taylor 1997, 60). The experience of filming thirty-eight cure-
healing rituals (very often not fully recorded), conducted by few Kariri-Shoco
shamanic specialists, provided not only the naturalization of the camcorder and my
use, but made me perceive and discover, through analysis, how embodiment is
images consider ethical issues where textual and visual are complementary tools for
presenting ethnographic data and analysis. My experiences with the use of video
recordings enriched considerably my research since very often interviews and cure-
healing rituals and practices are described considering the visual and regarding
4.4. Ethics
individuals are illiterate. I have considered specific procedures to respect and protect
Kariri-Shoco interests, according to ethical concerns. Firstly, from the beginning and
interests, concerns, and procedures for developing and writing an ethnography about
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Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists and women's experiences and perceptions with
The field research followed ethical principles that regarded not only Kariri-
Shoco as individuals who are subjects of research, but ethical concerns were extended
to the Kariri-Shoco as an ethnic group. Thus, a fundamental matter is the respect for
and confidential that can or cannot be investigated or exposed about individuals and
observer was understood and that data collected followed respect for their cultural-
ethnic standards on sensitive issues when involving research topics about gender,
reproduction, and shamanism. Basically, the respect for their individual and ethnic
human dignity has guided this ethnographic research, when the result of data analysis
was shared, and when I consulted with those who were interviewed.
of colonial oppression. This research derives from a position that a relevant matter for
relate basically to health and quality of life, and socio-cultural practices of everyday
life that must be guaranteed by the Brazilian government. Thus, this research does not
99
ethnophysiology, and reproductive processes can serve as a source and basis for the
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CHAPTER V
There were among them witches or, better say, impostors, who guessed what
they thought. Predicting future things, they cured diseases, when they did not
produce them (de Nantes [1706] 1979, 4). 13
emerge and perform cure-healing rituals for embodied health problems. The Kariri-
Shoco people experience the medical cultural domain, such as sicknesses and cure-
healing processes, as intimately intertwined with their shamanism, despite their use of
shamans‟ medical practices and cure-healing ritual performances, I did not use the
which was influenced by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the history of
colonization. As was already discussed in Chapter II, the history of the Kariri-Shoco
people is marked by different cultural contacts with colonizers (and African slaves)
medical knowledge despite this dynamic process of cultural change and influence
13
My translation: “Havia entre eles feiticeiros ou, para dizer melhor,
impostores, que adivinhavam o que eles pensavam. Prediziam coisas futuras,
curavam doenças, quando não as produziam” (Nantes [1706]1979, 4).
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from which plural cultural aspects compose Kariri-Shoco culture today. I do not
intend here to analyze this process of cultural change nor utilize explanations from
which the influence of different cultural religious traditions could be traced to explain
shamanism is perceived and practiced through lived experiences among the Kariri-
specialists‟ practices in cure-healing rituals and from what they explained about those
experienced daily among the Kariri-Shoco. It investigated the roles that shamanic
as a fundamental way for continuity of their culture. The secrets within Kariri-Shoco
shamanism are related to their perceptions of what is opened and what is closed. This
perception is reflected in their knowledge of the body through the idea of strength,
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from which what is kept closed in secrecy is protected and has strength. This same
understanding the Kariri-Shoco have within their knowledge of the body, from which
they perceive that when the body is closed it has strength for shamanic ritual
practices. An illustrative example about this perception on what is kept secret and
what is shown is Pajé Júlio‟s opinion about the prayers that I have video-recorded
during cure-healing rituals. When I asked him if I could include the contents of
prayers used in cure-healing rituals that I have recorded, he told me that I could, but
he added: “If someone gives you something and you show it, it loses its value.” Thus,
the strength and power of cure-healing practices, which the Kariri-Shoco receive from
spiritual beings through their shamanistic knowledge, is founded on the secrets kept
When I describe information about Ouricuri rituals, I continue to respect the secrecy
It is important to point out that rezador, rezadeira and curandeiro are very
common throughout Brazil (Priori 1994; Scheper-Hughes 1992; Silva 2002; Souto
Maior 2002) and in South American and Central American countries (Bastien 1987;
Brodwin 1996; Taussig 1987; Young and Garro 1981). Silva (2002) mentioned,
from popular medicine” (Silva 2002, 11). This author researched twelve rezadores in
the city, Serido, in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte. Silva (2002)
eye). Silva (2002) explains that the “rezadores‟ practices are reminiscence of the
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influenced and formed wide popular medicine practices” (Silva 2002, 11). These
practices involve particularly the poor people throughout Brazil since its time as a
Portuguese colony. Priori (1994) also explains that “magical practices and witchcraft
characterized, along with secularism from the Catholic missionary process, producing
multiform healing practices from which Africans, Indians, and „mestiços‟ [racially
mixed people] became great healers during Portuguese colonial times” (Priori 1994,
30). Souto Maior (2002) defines a rezador as: “a person who cures diseases [doenças]
by spoken prayers, gestures, signs, crosses, aspersions in the presence of the sick
person” (Souto Maior 2002,n/a). Souto Maior (2002) adds that a “rezador is a very
common type” (Souto Maior 2002, n/a) of curandeiros in Northeast Brazil, and
defines curandeiros as “raizeiros” (“rooters”), who are “people who deal with
medicinal plants knowing how to prepare and use them to cure diverse diseases”
(Souto Maior 2002,n/a). He explains that “raizeiros” are also called “Doctor Root”
(“Doutor Raiz”) and that they are “a common type found in Northeast open markets”
practices within a setting where cultural aspects are widely shared among Indians and
non-Indians. For example, the notion of evil eye is widely accepted throughout
Brazil. Catholicism as a missionary process has influenced several prayers used in the
reza rituals. A diverse cultural environment exists when traditions from Christianity,
such as saints and prayers, relate to popular medicine practices throughout Northeast
Brazil. Another example of this cultural diversity occurs when Kariri-Shoco shamans,
104
dealing with the spirit possession of non-indigenous patients, identify spirits from
including the use of some prayers from Catholicism during rituals for healing
purposes (compare to the ones from Serido that Silva [2002] described), I argue that
embodied knowledge, I mean the way that shamans experience and sense through
their bodies the patient‟s health problem. Shamanistic knowledge is acquired during
discover cultural domains related to shamanism as a cultural theme. The use of DRS
method helped to discover information about cure-healing rituals and sicknesses. This
provided information to analyze experiences and perceptions of how the medical and
14
Both Maria Padilha and Pomba Gira are Afro-Brazilian female spirits. They
induce sexually driven behavior on the part of those who become possessed or
influenced by them.
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indigenous medical practice and knowledge. It is through the use of selected
(Appendix E), that I focus on shamanic specialists‟ discourses and explanations about
Whenever considered, relevant words, terms, and expressions, are explained to elicit
cultural meanings. All translations are mine and I made efforts to provide appropriate
Cultural symbols about the domain of cure-healing rituals and sicknesses relate to
were selected to explain domain analysis, searching for cultural knowledge associated
as a medical cultural theme. I consider that the use of DRS method helped to guide
my research for in-depth data collection about those domains providing a basis for my
for data collection, which involved mainly the elaboration and use of descriptive and
106
healing practices. Thus, the research focused on their perceptions and knowledge of
the body in order to analyze ethnographic interviews and write this ethnography.
and knowledge. Thus, I describe each one of them, and throughout the text I present
information that they have provided about their experiences and knowledge. As will
be evident throughout my ethnography, during this chapter and in the following one,
some cases studies, like Pajé Júlio and Chiquinho, provided information about Kariri-
Shoco shamanistic medical aspects, which I use mostly for their explanations about
those themes. Dona Maria Velha and Frederico provided information about their
and ethnographic interviews conducted with them are often used in Chapter VII.
There are shamanic specialists selected as case studies on the basis of their kinship
ties or their cure-healing ritual practices (Dona Marieta, Candara, Kenedy, Dulcilene,
and Dona Maria Velha). I also considered for the selection of case studies the roles
and positions that shamanic specialists occupy within Ouricuri ritual practices (Pajé
Júlio and his son Chiquinho; Baioca; Dona Zezinha). I intend to describe them
Dona Marieta, the oldest Kariri-Shoco female shaman, had a life history very
different from the other cases studies. She only joined the Kariri-Shoco after she was
fourteen years old. Her father was “a true descendent from São Pedro Island”
(meaning that she is from where the Shoco came). He moved to Itabaiana city and
married a black woman (she explains her black appearance). As her parents died
107
when she was still a baby, her grandmother “gave” her to her godmother. She
explained to me that her grandmother could not raise her because she was too old and
poor. Her godmother raised her within the Catholic religion, and when she was
fourteen years old her uncle (who was the old Pajé Suíra) invited her to the Ouricuri
ritual‟s biggest feast, which takes place during fifteen days in January. She told me
that she did not want to accept this invitation, but her godmother insisted that she go
because her father‟s relatives were there, and she would be better among them where
she belonged. After she participated in the Ouricuri ritual, she told me that she could
not return to Itabaiana City. Dona Marieta said that she discovered such “beauty,”
such “pureness” in the Ouricuri that she could not go back to Itabaiana city to live
with her godmother anymore. She stayed and lived in her uncle‟s house until she
Dona Marieta told me “a marriage was arranged” for her when she was still
fifteen years old. She said she was not willing to marry anyone, but “nobody wants to
maintain a luggage” (as she was a load for her uncle‟s expenses). Thus, she got
married and had five children. Dona Marieta became a widow when she was thirty-
two years old. She had a stroke in October of 2001 at age 96, while I was still
conducting the field research, and died in the night of January 16, 2002. I was close to
Dona Marieta before and during her convalescence. As I have already mentioned,
from the first time I met Dona Marieta I found myself very attached to her. She died
describe Dona Marieta‟s sickness and the indigenous and biomedical healthcare that
her aged body experienced. Since Dona Marieta was a very famous and beloved
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Kariri-Shoco rezadeira shaman, her disease-illness was a matter of grief for
everybody, indigenous and non-indigenous, who knew her goodness and gentleness.
disability. I had to speak and ask questions loudly. After October we could not
converse anymore because the consequences of her stroke, when she could not speak,
through his or her life. In several interviews they explained that they alone learned
what they knew. They often explain that it is a matter of “science” (“ciência”)15 and
That was how and why Dona Marieta became a Kariri-Shoco shamanic
specialist. She told me that she became a rezadeira very young (when a teenager),
when Kariri-Shoco people started to ask her to perform reza (rituals) on babies who
were sick. She said she used to tell them, “I do not know how.” Because her prayers
were effective, others continued to come and ask for her cure-healing assistance.
When I met Dona Marieta she was living with her daughter Tarcisia, because
her house, which was besides Tarcisia‟s house, had fallen down and she did not have
15
The Kariri-Shoco often use the word science meaning to be conscious and
also as knowledge; as a noun in Portuguese it means both to be conscious, and
science.
109
the money to build it again, although she still had the hope to be able to do it one day.
Dona Marieta was living in a four-bedroom house, where Tarcisia and her husband,
their son, and two adolescent daughters also live. Despite her hearing disability, Dona
Marieta used to complain about the noise and the amount of people in Tarcisia‟s
house. Whenever she got bothered she walked by herself and stayed in her
granddaughter Tanira‟s house, who lives in Porto Real do Colégio town. On two
occasions this happened during the field research. Tanira was very close to Dona
Marieta, as she is Dona Marieta‟s first granddaughter. Every month Tanira went to
the bank to withdraw Dona Marieta‟s “minimal salary” (minimum wage) from her
Dona Marieta told me that her son Candara learned how to make remedies
from his godmother, Maria Martile, who was very famous for her knowledge and
power. Maria Martile raised him from five years old. Although Candara recognizes
me medicinal plants that he had “discovered” and started to use with patients for
“knowledge” and “science” are acquired and developed through a process related to
16
The “minimal salary” is the basic salary stipulated by the Brazilian
government, which is raised every year, and was rated at R$ 180,00 (one hundred and
eighty reais, which was close to one hundred Canadian dollars at that time) monthly.
Dona Marieta was retired as a rural worker, and like other Kariri-Shoco and non-
indigenous people, receive this right from the Brazilian government when they reach
65 years.
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obtained and developed through their subjective shamanistic experiences, which
relate to their relationship with spiritual beings. This relationship is kept secret. On
the other hand, as I have already mentioned, I found out from Kariri-Shoco shamans‟
case studies that their “vocation” often forms within their families. In Dona Marieta‟s
case, for example, her son Candara and two grandchildren (Dulcilene and Kenedy)
perform cure-healing rituals as rezadores. Another son of Dona Marieta, Mr. Zeca, is
It was at the end of May that I had the opportunity to meet Candara, who
usually travels to Girau do Ponciano, where he stays sometimes for more than a week
working as an Indian rezador and curandeiro. Like Dona Marieta, whom I already
knew from Mota‟s (1987, 1997) writings, another anthropologist, Christiano Silva
curandeiro shamans have for those who ask for their services. Candara works hard
and is very active with his duties as a rezador-curandeiro. I never witnessed a Kariri-
Shoco shamanic specialist give an excuse not to perform a reza ritual. They are
always ready to listen and to provide assistance for those who come to them. What
the shamans receive as payment for their reza ritual is usually something considered
17
I had the opportunity to observe a situation where Mr. Zeca‟s relative asked
for his influence through his “prayers” (which I understood relate to his contacts with
spiritual beings) and asked him for medicinal plants, in order to cure a disease-illness
that she was suffering. Mr. Zeca performed a cure-healing ritual, which I will
describe, when he used methods that are not seen in other reza ritual performances.
18
Christiano Silva was a student from the University of Alagoas who
conducted an undergraduate research project about Kariri-Shoco shamanism, and was
my advisee for this research during the year 1998. He continues to conduct his
research, and is now affiliated to the Graduate Program in Anthropology of the
Federal University of Pernambuco.
111
as an “exchange for the reza [ritual],” however, sometimes they do not receive
anything. These payments can be in the form of food, like a package of sugar or rice,
is often busy collecting medicinal plants for making remedies and performing cure-
healing practices. Candara and his family live in a small house, although he has a new
larger one being built beside the old one. Candara and his wife, Martinha, live in their
old two bedroom house that they share with their two sons: Erismo, who is single,
and Kenedy, who lives with his wife and two year old daughter. Both Candara and
Martinha are retired and each receive minimal wages from their pensions, which help
them to support their sons, who do not have jobs or activities from which they receive
income. Their sons‟ lack of income describes the situation in which many Kariri-
throughout Sao Francisco River, the economic and ecological changes provoked a
met his sons and their families in his house. Kenedy is an indigenous health
practitioner like his father, and usually received things that people give to him in
exchange for a reza ritual. Erismo helps his parents with several activities, including
taking care of animals (a horse, and dogs that they have for hunting) and collecting
medicinal plants that Candara needs to make remedies. Erismo and Kenedy also hunt
small prey, like birds, or bigger prey, like teiu (T. merianae) lizard, which is also
used for making medicinal remedies. The remedy called “bottled” (“garrafada”), is
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made from a mixture of several kinds of medicinal plants according to the health
problem diagnosed, and is sold to patients when Candara or Kenedy prescribes it.
They earn extra money this way. Each bottle was sold for R$ 10,00 (which was about
eight Canadian dollars) at the time of the research. These “bottled” medicines vary
according to the kind of health problem diagnosed. Martinha or Kenedy very often
prepared them under Candara‟s supervision, usually for his patients from Girau do
Ponciano city. During one of his travels he carried ten two-litre bottles with him.
I made use of one of these strong remedies that Candara prepared using
Jurubeba‟s fruits mixed with other medicinal plants. All “bottled” remedies he makes
contain one kind of Jurema, which is a very sacred plant that is often called as “the
remedy of the Indian,” and that several different indigenous peoples from Northeast
Candara‟s daughter, Dulcilene, and his son, Kenedy, are also rezadores
shamans. Ducilene explained that she was very close to her grandmother Dona
Ducilene and her brother Kenedy‟s case, their grandmothers (Dona Marieta and Dona
rezadeira mostly from observing her grandmother, Dona Chiquinha, to whom she was
19
It is interesting to note that Jurema is also used in Afro-Brazilian religious
rituals. Dalva (a “mother of saint”) who lives in Porto Real do Colégio town, prepares
two different kinds of beverages that she makes to use in festivities from a plant
called Jurema. When I asked her to show me the plant, it was a different one than
Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists have shown me and that they use. In the “night of
the Caboclos,” when ancient indigenous spirits are celebrated in her terreiro
(ceremonial ground), songs are sung referring to Jurema as a spiritual being. Ortiz
(1991, 89) registered Cabocla Jurema as being part of Umbanda and Quimbanda
Afro-Brazilian religions.
113
very attached. Candara‟s son, Kenedy, also became a rezador and curandeiro learning
from his father‟s cure-healing practices and performances. Both Kenedy and Ducilene
have worked like their father, performing cure-healing rituals such as “reza”
(“prayer”) and “mesa” (“table”), which I will describe later. Although the rezadores
and curandeiros (and also reza and mesa rituals) are very common throughout Brazil,
I will show, when I describe those Kariri-Shoco ritual practices, how indigenous
therapeutic methods are used during cure-healing performances. Several cases show
health practitioner among the Kariri-Shoco, relates to a learning process within the
family realm, although each shamanic specialist experiences a secret and private
Dona Chiquinha, for example, told me that her grandmother was the one who
“discovered for her” that she had this “gift” and told her that she was a rezadeira.
“Vocation” is understood as a “gift” that the person has from birth, but the
“knowledge” (“conhecimento”) and the “ciência” that the shaman acquires during his
or her life depends on his/her personal growth, and experience in his/her “vocation”
daily activity.
Dulcilene explained that she “prays” (perform reza rituals) to cure “evil eye,”
for “bad will” (“má vontade”), and participates in mesa rituals as a “godmother”
(“madrinha”) when the Pajé Júlio or her father, Candara, asks for her help. She said
that since she was a child she “stayed curiando [observing with curiosity]” with her
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Dona Maria Velha told me that when she was a child she used to observe her
father praying for people, and that he used to ask her to bring leaves of mastruz,
vassourinha, or pinhão-roxo for him to perform reza rituals on people. She told me
that she felt that she could “be a rezadeira too” so she started to practice by herself,
hiding from her father. One day when her father arrived and caught her performing a
reza on a boy, he said that he did not know that she was a rezadeira. She told him that
she was still learning, and from that day forward she continued to pray on people.
Thus the role of rezadeira is not necessarily passed down through a same-sex line.
With Dona Maria Velha I had not only the opportunity to conduct ethnographic
interviews and watch her perform cure-healing rituals, but I also learned considerably
studies, more than any other rezadeira case studies did. This happened based on our
empathy, so I felt more comfortable to converse with her about sensitive issues
several ethnographic interviews, when I used to leave the camcorder on a table when
conducting interviews. Several video footages were also recorded when she
performed cure-healing rituals and also when we talked while she was making
pottery.
Dona Maria Velha had twenty-one pregnancies. Eighteen children were born,
of whom only six children survived, and she had three pregnancy losses. She lives in
a two-bedroom house with her husband, who is retired and receives the “minimal
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salary,” which is their principal source of income. They live with their youngest son
(who is fourteen years old), and another single son (twenty-six years old).
Dona Zezinha is another Kariri-Shoco female shaman who works with cure-
healing practices as a rezadeira. The first time I visited her, she told me about her
great-grandfather who was recognized as a “captain” by Don Pedro II (who was the
Emperor of Brazil during the nineteenth century) during a trip he made through the
São Francisco River valley. Dona Zezinha explained that she became a rezadeira
learning from her mother and father who also worked as shamanic specialists. She
said that her father knew everything about cure-healing: “He knew how to pray, how
Dona Zezinha has seven children, and one of her sons is living in São Paulo, where
he works and has bought house. She has two married daughters who teach in the
elementary school inside the reserve. She told me that her son and daughters always
help her, giving her money every month. Dona Zezinha also said that her oldest
daughter is the one who is already a rezadeira shaman, and that she will also inherit
(“Grandmother”).
Baioca lives in a two-bedroom house with her husband. During field research
her son was working in São Paulo and her daughter studied in Porto Real do Colegio.
When I met Baioca I came with Julie, one of the woman reproductive case studies.
Baioca told me that she became a “Mãe (“Mother”) among the Kariri-Shoco because
her mother occupied this role in the Ouricuri. She showed her mother‟s picture and
20
The mesa ritual is “opened” by a male shaman who is called “mestre”
(“master”) as I will describe below.
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told me how she misses her and still communicates with her spirit, explaining her
goodness and gentleness. Baioca also told me that her father was from the Pankararu
and her mother a “natural from the land” (which means that she was born in Porto
Real do Colegio). Baioca occupies a very important position within Ouricuri rituals
and she is responsible for conducting an annual celebration for Saint Anthony in June.
I met Frederico when he came back from a frustrating trip to Rio de Janeiro.
The website group, Tribo Virtual, contains several electronic messages referring to
information about a “ceremony” that Frederico was going to perform and that was
about the ceremony. They also discussed the fact that Pajé Júlio was informed about
that ceremony and had asked Frederico to come back immediately to the reserve as he
was making a mistake by performing the proposed ceremony, where rumors about
sacred secrets from Ouricuri ritual could be revealed. Thus, when I met Frederico, he
only wanted to talk about this episode. He assured me that he “wouldn‟t be crazy to
I understood from the advertisement on the web that it was not the first time
that a ceremony led by a Kariri-Shoco shaman involving the use of Jurema occurred
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in Rio de Janeiro. Rogerio Favilha (2001b) reported that the first time it happened
was in 1997 with Pajé Júlio‟s participation. I talked to Pajé Júlio about this and he
explained that “the problem” this time was related to the fact that he was not aware
that Frederico was going to perform that kind of ritual in Rio de Janeiro, when
Frederico was not authorized to perform that ceremony. According to Pajé Júlio, the
use of Jurema is “very dangerous.” He also explained that Jurema‟s use could “bring
harmful consequences to the ones who participate” and “if secrets from Ouricuri”
were revealed, it would affect and could even “destroy the whole Kariri-Shoco
ethnographic data about Kariri-Shoco use of Jurema in mesa ritual. For now, I
I heard several different opinions about Frederico‟s return, which spread the
rumor of the threat of Kariri-Shoco secrets being revealed. Some shamans thought
that Frederico was wrong to propose to perform a ritual using the Ouricuri as
reference to a ritual, and the fact that he had to return to the reserve was already a
“punishment he was receiving.” Dona Maria Velha was very mad because her son,
who traveled with Frederico, was also involved in this “misunderstanding” and came
back to the reserve. Dona Maria Velha explained that she knew her son and Frederico
very well, and that she was sure that they would never reveal any secret from the
Ouricuri ritual.
demonstration of how the Kariri-Shoco are concerned with their Ouricuri secrets
being protected from outsiders, which are part of their knowledge and practices. It
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was also a demonstration of Pajé Júlio‟s power and control over a shamanic specialist
who, according to him, had “passed the limits,” particularly because he did not ask
for his authorization to perform such ritual using the sacred Jurema remedy. Pajé
Júlio was sure, according to what he stated, that Frederico would never reveal Kariri-
Pajé Júlio, who is the religious leader, lives in a three-bedroom house with his
wife, Vandete, and two teenage children. Pajé Júlio has eight children and, among
them, Chiquinho is the one who is going to become a Pajé like his father. When I first
met Pajé Júlio he embraced me and gave me all support to conduct my field research.
Very often I would come to visit him and we would talk about my research and the
for my research. Two of his sons, Carlinhos and Chiquinho, are FUNASA employees.
FUNASA sanitary actions and projects within the reserve, such as water treatment
Sementeira health clinic. Chiquinho lives in a two-bedroom house with his wife and
two children. He is usually busy with his work within the reserve and as a DSEI
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5.2. Kariri-Shoco Shamanism as a Sociological Domain:
The religious leadership role of Pajé has been passed down through
generations within the same family.21 In Pajé Júlio‟s case, not only was his father the
previous Pajé, but his son Chiquinho will occupy his father‟s position in the future.
The Pajé‟s role relates to a responsibility with spiritual issues, which includes
The meaning of the word tronco stands for the kinship ancestral domain.
Tronco is also a cover term that refers to roots and to plants. Pajé Julio explained how
“The Cacique‟s work is different; if it doesn‟t work the community can gather
and replace him. It is a different thing. The Cacique has nothing to do with
what is religious. I respect him, I help, he is a good Cacique, everybody
supports him, but when he plans something, I have to confirm [through
divinatory practices] if it will work. If it won‟t, I tell that it has to wait; it is
not the time yet… That is why my responsibility is ever greater, because my
word is the last one.”
Chiquinho‟s interview illustrates how explanations are usually given about the
21
Diégues Jr. (1975) describing historical characteristics of indigenous
peoples in Brazil, defines Pajé as “the religious authority… who… joint functions as
priest, healer, and guesser” (my translation, Diégues Jr. 1975, 69). Today all
indigenous peoples in Northeast Brazil still have the roles of Pajé, as the religious
leader, and Cacique, as political leader.
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diseases-illnesses that he has treated among the Kariri-Shoco are “spiritual problems
that belong to Indians themselves,” which he “cures” with his father. About the
“Although I see him [his father] working, I have already received a vocation
and I have the power to decide and to do… Among all my brothers, including
three older ones, I am the chosen one, and my father knows that… I have a
mission to accomplish… Right now we work together, but if he is not present
in the reserve, I assume the work. For example, according to my knowledge,
sometimes when I am working with my father I can remind him something
that is missing.”
Chiquinho said that sometimes when his father forgets something, he tells his
father what to do. From these experiences his father recognizes and agrees that he has
“These moments happen because my father cannot teach. There are things that
cannot be taught… it is why my father thinks to himself: „I haven‟t taught him
about this! Nobody taught him, but he is learning!‟”
knows how to make several remedies, “like everybody,” but right now he is not
working with remedies, so he leaves it to his father: “I can make a remedy and it can
be validated, but I don‟t want to have this duty now… My father makes them as a
ritual practices and also making remedies for indigenous and non-indigenous people.
Pajé Júlio and Chiquinho‟s interviews are examples of how shamans obtain
their knowledge and become shamanic specialists. Their shamans‟ roles relate to a
“Grandfather” position within the shamanistic kinship ties, and also to Pajé, as the
religious leader who assumes the leading role in Ouricuri ritual celebrations.
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Although all shamans are able to cure-heal, not all of them become indigenous health
specialist conduct reza and mesa cure-healing rituals and work also making remedies
from medicinal plants. Pajé Júlio is also a rezador-curandeiro shaman and his future
Pajé Júlio explained that fifteen women and twenty-eight young men are his
About his male “helper” shamans, Pajé Júlio told that he followed his “divination”
(vision, prediction) when he decided to “put aside older men” (as retiring them from
certain ritualistic practices) who are also shamans, “because they are tired and cannot
stand the repuxo [hard work]” required in certain Ouricuri ritual practices. Thus, his
“helper” male shamans are “young men” who are “the sons of older shamans” who
have worked with Pajé Júlio‟s father, the old Pajé Suíra. From those young men, he
mentioned that only eight are his “helper” shamans during daily life within the
reserve. Pajé Júlio explained that those eight “helpers” work as an extension of his
“eyes… being aware” and telling him “if something bad or wrong happens within the
reserve.” His “helper” male shamans also can “represent” him when he is “absent
The information that young “helper” male shamans are the sons of older ones
demonstrates how male shamanic specialists are formed within families along descent
lines. Pajé Júlio explained, “they are from the same houses” of the older ones, and
that “although they are young, they are prepared and old about their work… [which]
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cannot be diminished [„diminuído’] and neither be advanced [„adiantado‟]; it has to
“Because I have a custom that belongs to God, what God gives you is yours,
and that‟s what you have, can have, and what is not for you to have you don‟t,
because God gives the divination [„vidência’]. Your determination is only
what God allows to your head. Your head of God is a secret. All are sons of
God, everybody could have the same equal deserving [merecimento], but
doesn‟t. Everyone has the way that the person deserves, and also what the
person dedicates and trusts. God gives your head for your effort and for the
trust.”
When I asked Pajé Júlio about whom those “helpers” shamans were, he said
that I would meet them during my research, but he did not tell me their names. I
understand that shaman “helpers‟” identities are kept veiled from outsiders because
their roles, activities, and experiences are mainly associated with secret and sacred
male and female Ouricuri shamanic ritual practices. Thus, the kinds of shamans that
Pajé Júlio calls “helpers” were not researched, although I may have met and
the role of the shamanic specialist relates to a position passed down through
generations, like the Pajé and “helper” shamans‟ roles. Chiquinho explained that in
“chosen one” through different generations within his family: “For example, my
grandfather [Pajé Suíra] never taught my father, who also never taught us. Thus, my
father recognizes that it is a vocation that I have and he tells me: „You keep this to
yourself because later you will need this knowledge.” When I asked a verification
question about his role as shamanic specialist, he answered that according to their
traditions:
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“… the Pajé is the tribal chief, the spiritual chief … the Cacique is the warrior
chief, but the Pajé is the father of all the tribe. Then I received this function,
like I am already managing it, but in the future I will receive it in a spiritual
way. This is the function I receive. My vocations make that later, for example,
I will have to accept the decisions of few, but there will be a time that
everybody, all Kariri-Shoco, will have to accept my decisions, and even those
older than me will have to respect my decisions.”
Then I asked: “Will they call you Father?” He answered: “No, they will call
Chiquinho told me that he has friends who are his same age that are already
finding it strange that one day they are going to call him “Avô:” “That is the way they
will have to,” he mentioned. Although Chiquinho is going to assume a specific role as
shows an example on how the process of becoming a shaman happens among the
Kariri-Shoco. It also reveals what I had already noticed: there is a ritualistic kinship
and addressed with fictive kinship terms, such as Mãe (Mother), Pai (Father), Avó
(Grandmother) and Avô (Grandfather). Those are statuses associated with their
shamanic relation and association with spiritual beings, which are kept secret from
outsiders.
These ritual fictive kinship statuses are positions that shamanic specialists
occupy through the roles they assume within Ouricuri rituals from which
ties. For example, I had the opportunity to interview an eighteen-year-old girl who
explained how her “Avó” was important to her in terms of protection by the
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shamanistic world. She also explained how her “Avó” regards and is responsible for
her shamanistic growth within Kariri-Shoco shamanism. Thus, the ritual kinship bond
relates to the initiation process, within Ouricuri rituals, when those shamans occupy a
position that becomes responsible for the shamanic initiation of their “rebanho” (herd,
flock as neophytes). In the Ouricuri ritual world, those positions follow the mother‟s
or father‟s descent line (according to the shamanic specialist‟s gender), and are
regarded by the Kariri-Shoco as a ritual kinship system. In the last section of this
chapter, I describe how this cognatic ritual kinship system is linked to spirits.
Those who occupy ritual kinship positions are responsible for specific
celebrations during Ouricuri rituals throughout the year. When an Avó dies, for
consanguineal line. After Dona Marieta had a serious health problem during the
candidates to occupy her position. The one chosen would mainly depend on Ouricuri
shamanic ritual, where the replacement of Dona Marieta‟s position of “Avó” would
beings. Pajé Júlio explained that although there is no definition of who inherits this
position, it always passes to someone who belongs to the same family through
generations. Thus, Dona Marieta‟s substitute could be chosen among her female
disputed between those who are candidates. Although one of Dona Marieta‟s
granddaughters was willing to assume this shamanistic role, this would not
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necessarily happen because the chosen one among Dona Marieta‟s female family
descendants would fill this position by a decision taken within Ouricuri ritual.
positions. The one who was chosen to replace the previous one was not a
consanguineal descendant. This shamanic specialist died after assuming this shamanic
position. Several people suspected that the successor‟s death related to the power of
the shaman who occupies this role at the present. The death of the successor was
commentaries about the shamanistic power of the actual one who holds this position
today. This shamanic specialist explained to me that one inherited this shamanic
What is interesting about these ritual kinship statuses is that they reproduce a
the grammar and catechism of the Kipea language in order to provide better
Kariri people that Mamiani ([1699] 1942)) observed in the late seventeenth century
had a term, buyó, to refer to relatives and a term, buyoidzã, which means “relative
22
Mamiani ([1699] 1942) registered information about the Kipea language of
the Kariri people located in a missionary settlement on the Itapicuru river, in the
Northeast of Bahia state.
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arrived by consanguinity” (“parente chegado por consagüinidade”) that Rodrigues
1942) account of the Kipea language and shows that within this language the kinship
system is classificatory:
All relatives from the same generation of ego - whether brothers or cousins
(parallel or cross) are classified in the same way, i.e. as “brothers.” …In the
first descendant generation, as in the ascendant, there is no identification of
children and nephews. For the children there is only one term, and the
distinction of the sex is done with words „man‟ and „woman‟: …”man child”
and…”woman child” (Rodrigues 1948, 196).23
kinship system today, where they have classificatory kinship terminologies (Mãe, Pai,
Avó, Avô) that “systematically class together lineal relatives (father, mother,
grandparents) and collateral relatives” (Keesing 1991, 102). This means that the
23
My translation: “Todos os parentes da mesma geração de ego –tanto
irmãos como primos (paralelos ou cruzados), são classificados da mesma forma, i. é.,
como “irmãos.” ...Na primeira geração descendente, não se identificam filhos e
sobrinhos. Para os filhos há um só têrmo, e a distinção é feita pelas palavras
“homem” e “mulher”: ...”filho homem,” ...”filha mulher” (Rodrigues 1948, 196).
24
My translation: “Na segunda geração ascendente, os avós são distinguidos
apenas de acôrdo com o sexo, não havendo diferença entre os pais do pai e os pais
da mãe. Na segunda geração descendente, da mesma forma, os netos são
distinguidos sòmente segundo o sexo” (Rodrigues 1948, 196).
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(1948) analysis provides a basis to consider how an indigenous kinship system
shamanistic world. Through this ritual kinship system, recognized among the Kariri-
Shoco, kinship ties are established and experienced between those who belong to the
same and different generations as being part of a cognatic kinship system. 25 This
mother, grandparents) and collateral relatives… Collateral relatives are off to the
side, the siblings or cousins of lineal relatives” (Keesing 1991, 102). It is this kinship
system, followed by the Kariri-Shoco within Ouricuri rituals, which contrasts with
their daily nuclear family domestic groups, where kinship terminologies are used to
distinguish lineal (pai, mãe, tio [uncle], tia [aunt], sobrinho [nephew], sobrinha
[niece], avô [grandfather], avó [grandmother], tio avô [uncle grandfather], tia avó
25
Cognatic kinship is very widespread among indigenous groups in Brazil.
Seeger and Viveiros de Castro (1986) explain that Gê groups and the Bororo from
Central Brazil became famous in anthropological studies because those societies,
extremely complex, utilize a multiplicity of principles to form groups, and they have
a notable social organization” (Seeger and Viveiros de Castro 1986, 46).
26
There is also expressions that distinguish within a collateral relative from
the father‟s or mother‟s side, for example, “male cousin from the father‟s part”
(“primo por parte de pai”), “uncle from the mother‟s part” (“tio por parte de mãe”),
etc.
128
On the other hand, since classificatory terminologies are used within a
shamanistic cognatic ritual kinship status of shamanic specialists‟ roles, the ones
chosen to occupy this status belong to a non-ritual kinship consanguinity and gender-
differentiated descent. Those who occupy positions within this ritual kinship system
assume responsibilities and affective bonds among themselves and among the Kariri-
Shoco people.
village. Their concerns with obligations are very often related to the food that they
have to bring which is shared among “relative[s] by consanguinity” who are “true
relative[s],” quoting Rodrigues (1948, 202), when he translated the significance of the
Kariri Kipea language terms for relatives. The Kariri-Shoco gather to celebrate
divinity and holiness, and also to perform cure-healing practices in Ouricuri rituals.
Shamanic specialists who occupy a position through shamanic kinship roles hold
wide social and affective bonds among the Kariri-Shoco, where people also
Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists are those who are the “chosen ones” within
their families. “Vocation” is a “gift” given by the spiritual world, when “divination”
“concentration” are part of the shamanic specialist formation and practices. Still,
spiritual beings are the ones who choose who will become a shaman. My
understanding is that the Kariri-Shoco consider that “live spirits” are spiritual beings
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from the cosmological world, which are the ones who choose shamanic specialists
relate to the Ouricuri, which take place in the Ouricuri village, two weekends each
throughout the year. He is also responsible for the biggest celebration that lasts for
fifteen days in January, when many Fulni-ô, Carapotó, Shucuru-Kariri and other
indigenous peoples, from groups that also practice Ouricuri rituals, come to
protection.
where only men gather, where no women can go. The men, however, can go to where
women and children gather. This territorial ground is a place of “respect,” where
there is no space for disputes nor for sexual desire, where ritual kinship ties link
everyone. This gendered territorial ground demarcation does not necessarily illustrate
that gendered shamanic practices differ. Those positions of being the Mãe, Pai, and
Avó and Avô are gender inherited, when female shamanic specialist‟s roles pass
through female lineal descent, and the same happens to male shaman‟s roles within
Thus, among the Kariri-Shoco rituals, the Ouricuri is the most important one
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people who married a Kariri-Shoco woman or man, who were accepted to participate
in the Ouricuri rituals. Those cases happened mostly in the past, although there are
cases, like a woman who is thirty-six years old and was accepted to be part of the
Ouricuri when she married a Kariri-Shoco man ten years ago. Pajé Júlio explained
that when his father was already old, he decided that permission for those non-
indigenous spouses taking part in this ritual would not be granted anymore. There are
were never accepted to take part in the Ouricuri ritual. Thus, for a non-indigenous
person to be accepted, or Indians from groups which do not have Ouricuri ritual, it
always depends on decisions taken within Ouricuri, where spiritual beings decide.
One example that shows how an indigenous population had access to Kariri-
Shoco Ouricuri rituals happened in the 1980s, when a Shucuru-Kariri nurse assistant,
who worked for FUNAI in the Kariri-Shoco post, was accepted to gather and be part
of this ritual. As she was a midwife, there was a need for this specialized health
assistance in the Ouricuri, where women give birth. After this Shucuru-Kariri woman
started to be a member within Ouricuri ritual, she also brought her relatives and that is
why the Shucuru-Kariri today practice the Ouricuri in their indigenous Mata da
Cafurna area.
and bad events for both Kariri-Shoco individuals and the whole community. Pajé
Júlio once said: “Our work there [in the Ouricuri] is more of defense. We have to
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cover [cobrir] ourselves.”27 I observed how busy the Kariri-Shoco are with
When preparing for specific celebrations some people are responsible for
Kariri-Shoco elderly women today are called and treated as “Avó” by those with
whom this shamanistic kinship tie is established, but the number of “Avô” is greater.
This shaman also explained that this kinship relates to Kariri-Shoco religion
(shamanism) and that all Kariri-Shoco “know and respect it” (“conhece e respeita”), I
found out that there are two Mãe, one Pai, forty-five Avô, and fifteen elderly women
who are Avó. I told him and mentioned Baioca whom I had noticed was considered
and called “Mãe” by many people. He explained that “both Mãe” do not have the
same role-functions in the Ouricuri. This relates to the fact that the Mãe‟s role is
fundamental for the opening of Ouricuri rituals. There has to be another Mãe, who
may practice similar necessary opening activities of Baioca‟s role for the Ouricuri
ritual, substituting Baioca (when she is menstruating) in order for Ouricuri ritual to be
conducted. As I asked about who was considered a Pai among the Kariri-Shoco, he
mentioned Mr. Herpidio was the one considered. He also explained that I could
observe that even his “morality [referring to the way he conducts himself] is
different.”
I told this Kariri-Shoco shaman that I had observed that many people were
afraid of Mr. Herpidio. He laughed at my comments and explained that since Mr.
27
The verb cobrir (cover) is semantically associated with ideas of secrecy,
protection, „closedness‟, according to domain analysis.
132
Herpidio was twenty years old “he was already privileged with power… and [since
then] he has commanded” (assumed his role in the Ouricuri as the Father). This
shaman corrected me by explaining that although I had mentioned the correct word,
(“respeitado”), and that “the respect makes the person fear… the respect is so big,
that makes people fear him, and even now when he is already old.”
positions that they occupy through ritual kinship ties, which also characterize
relationships among Kariri-Shoco people. These roles also relate to the power that
shamans have from their knowledge. Since power and knowledge are connected, the
Once I asked another shaman if these kinship ties were related to their age. He
explained that “even the oldest Kariri-Shoco man” at the age his “bisavô” (“great-
grandfather”) will have to “consider” and call him “my Avô.” He told me this
“These are things that happen within our communion. There are days that we
have to respect and deal with children very carefully, when we have to
consider a class related to the celebration [in the Ouricuri]”
I asked: “Does this relate to the obrigações [obligations] within the Ouricuri
ritual?” As he bent his head affirmatively, I asked: “Do these duties create the reality
of ritual practices for all year round?” He said: “Yes, during the whole year… and it
is formed from children to the older ones.” Then, I asked him why the Kariri-Shoco
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have several Ouricuri rituals during the year, while among the Fulni-ô rituals happen
“It is according to what the old Pajé Suíra used to tell, that his father and
father of his father told about these traditions: „Those are things that we have
already found.‟”
Thus, Kariri-Shoco shamanism has social aspects where ritual kinship ties and
roles within the Ouricuri ritual are established. These shamanic specialists‟ roles also
relate to “duties” and specific ritual celebrations throughout the year. The content of
Dona Zezinha is a shamanic specialist “Avó,” like Dona Marieta and other
older women. Dona Zezinha explained that she has “lots of grandchildren” who call
her “Avó” and they always “ask for blessings” during daily life. She also mentioned
that several older women have “Netos” (“Grandchildren”), who are like a “rebanho.”
When I asked to Dona Zezinha if all “Avó” shamans know how to pray and make
remedies, she answered that “not all of them know and all know.” She explained that
all “Avó” know how to pray and make remedies, but not all of them are rezadeira
“The person has to have a gift to make remedies and to deal with plants. Here
there are plants that we all respect, for everything, like velandinho and jurema
which ward-off all evil… all our plants are a gift left from God.”
About her work as a rezadeira shaman, Dona Zezinha also told me:
“This is my obligation that I have with my family, with people who come for
me, and it is also my way of living. I have my obligation there [in the
Ouricuri], I have my responsibility.”
(“conhecimento não pode ser ensinado”) the role of a rezador, rezadeira or curandeiro
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shaman is usually learned from observation of someone close. This learning process
usually happens early in their lives when they are young, or even as a child. However,
it mostly depends on their “vocation” within their family. During my field research, I
observed one case of a newborn that was already considered as “having a cadência
[vocation].” The characteristics of his head and eyes, and also health problems that
were affecting him, were pointed out as related to his “vocation.” I was sure that this
was an exceptional case, but I also observed that this was a case of a very special
rituals. She explained that she has “the keys of the Ouricuri” and for each ritual she
goes before the others and works there, in order to “open” the ceremonies. Thus, it is
a female shamanic specialist who opens the Ouricuri sacred and secret ritual. Baioca
explained:
“All of them depend on me… I have to arrange very early, I cannot go to the
city… during four days lot of things pass through my hands… My strength
[força] is from things discovered with the time, maybe with the planet that I
was born with a strong star… I assumed my work after my mother died… and
it could not put a wrong person, because it was from my grandmother, who
passed to my mother, and [she] passed to me… she died when she was 70
years old.”
The word strength belongs not only to the shamanistic domain. It is often used
within the ethnophysiological domain, which I approach in the next chapter. About
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Mãe, I have to bring peace, and I was born for that, although the person
suffers.”
Then Baioca explained how she had experienced sufferings as part of the
Baioca described her strength as a shamanic specialist and that her role within
Baioca told me that she is still developing her shamanic knowledge as she has
a “lot of ground to grow.” She also mentioned that her mother was a widow and she
“amarrou o facão” (“tied up the big knife,” went through menopause) very early.
Because she still has a husband, Baioca prays and makes a “lot of effort.” Her
explanation about the fact that she still menstruates and that she still has a husband,
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relates to the Kariri-Shoco perception of differences that characterize the female body
which affect shamanic performance. She considers that this influences her growth in
her shamanistic practices. The way she explains her shamanic specialization
demonstrates how powerful she already is, and the fundamental role she has, when
she is the one who has “the keys for the Ouricuri” ritual.
Thus, like the Pajé religious leader‟s role, I understand that among the Kariri-
Shoco the shamanic specialist‟s role has also been passed down through generations
within families. Shamans are those who work protecting their families, protecting the
ones who are ritually affiliated to them, and assisting the ones who come for their
curandeiro, who perform reza and mesa cure-healing rituals and make remedies for
are able to cure-heal because it is a power and strength they have through their
Pajé Júlio explained to me that the difference between rezador, rezadeira and
curandeiro is in their ability to heal different health problems. The rezador and
rezadeira shamans are those who conduct reza rituals when they are able to treat
“light things” (as minor health problems), while curandeiro shamans are those who
treat dangerous health problems caused by evil spirits. He mentioned that curandeiros
are called “mestres” (“masters”) those who open mesa rituals. He also explained and
considers that all Kariri-Shoco rezadeira, rezador and curandeiro are shamans. I asked
a verification question to Pajé Júlio if those rezadeira and rezador, whom I have
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they were all able to “attract” something evil, including an evil spirit through reza
rituals. He answered that although they are all able to treat “minor things,” only the
“mestres” (curandeiro shamans) are able through mesa rituals to “cure from spirits”
perform mesa rituals as mestres by opening it. This reflects shamanic specialists
perceptions that men have more “força” (“strength”) than women. Still, the one who
“opens” the most important Kariri-Shoco ritual, the Ouricuri, is a female shamanic
specialist.
Thus, among the Kariri-Shoco there are shamans who occupy classificatory
kinship status. There are also rezador, rezadeira and curandeiro (master) shamans
like Dona Marieta, Dona Zezinha, Dona Maria Velha and Dulcilene, are specialized
in reza rituals; they do not “open” mesa rituals, although they participate as
considered minor ones, such as evil eye or other kinds not related to evil spirits.
Curandeiros also perform reza rituals, like Candara, Kenedy, Frederico and Pajé
Júlio, and they are mestres who treat minor and dangerous health problems related to
evil spirits. Still, there are those who are not specialized in performing reza rituals or
mesa rituals as mestres, but are able to perform cure-healings practices, like Mr. Zeca
and others.
a shamanic specialist who works mainly inside the reserve. Mr. Ze Tenorio explained
that he “takes care of his family… [and] more of the Indians,” and that he has “often
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helped Pajé Júlio in mesa rituals” as a “godfather” (“padrinho”). He also told me
about non-indigenous peoples who came to ask for his help and he assisted them,
although he is not known as a rezador or curandeiro, and does not perform those
kinds of cure-healing rituals. Mr. Ze Tenorio also explained that he “learned a lot
from the old Pajé Suíra,” but the “learning,” which he defined as a “calling” (“um
I believe that among Pajé Júlio‟s ajudantes there are some shamans who are
shamans are the ones who work with cure-healing ritual practices, attending
indigenous and non-indigenous people. Chiquinho, for example, in the future will be
like his father, a rezador-curandeiro shaman, a Grandfather, and will work with
outsiders. He said that in time he would start “to work” (“trabalhar”) with these cure-
healing practices (as a rezador-curandeiro shaman), but for now he is only “working
with Indians.” Although Chiquinho recognizes that his father has “a deeper
knowledge,” he knows that he will eventually learn, and help even more his father.
“fool around” (“farrear”) but today he cannot. Thus, the role that shamanic specialists
assume involves a different way of proceeding during daily life. This process implies
knowledge. Pajé Júlio, Chiquinho, and Baioca‟s discourses exemplify this argument,
seriously.
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During an ethnographic interview when I asked Pajé Júlio a descriptive
question about his work, he explained his shamanic experiences and practices:
“It is [a work with] divination [vidência] and knowledge. I can see things that
come through dreams, and they can come also through spirits… It is like
you‟re there, if you are a vidente (diviner) and you have contact with some
spirit, he passes there and you see… he is there and you see, you observe him,
you‟re sitting there. For you to have contact with the spiritual area you can
have it being awake or asleep. You need to have the gift [dom] and
concentration [meditation, concentração]. The concentration is principal. The
person who concentrates with spirits has to be a person very concentrated on
certain areas.”
In this explanation, he uses the word vidência regarding vision, the ability to
see, the ability of predicting the future. In the context of the research, vidência is a
cover term semantically associated to foresighted, which means the one who guesses,
predicts things. This is the reason why in the next sentences he says: “I can see…
concentração and dom, are fundamental properties as ability and as attributes of being
and of becoming a shaman. They are words often used in the cultural domain of
explained as the moment through which the shamanic specialists focuses through
see things and to cure-heal. It is also the moment that a trance or a light trance
happens.
Thus, among the Kariri-Shoco, there is not one kind of shaman, but various
shamanic specialists who have different roles and practices, and who perform
different gendered roles in cure-healing rituals. As already explained, there are Kariri-
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Shoco shamanic specialists who work as Pajé Júlio‟s helpers during Ouricuri rituals
and within the reserve. There are shamans who are called “Mãe,” “Pai,” “Avô,” and
“Avó,” with whom shamanistic ritual kinship status is recognized among the Kariri-
Shoco. There are also shamanic specialists who are female rezadeiras or male
rezadores or male curandeiros, who during daily life perform and practice cure-
healing rituals as indigenous health practitioners. These roles may intersect, since
male curandeiro shamans can be also rezadores and helpers; Avôs can be
cure-healing ritual practices is the gendered and demarcated character of the nature of
specialists practice cure-healing rituals through the use of words in prayers, the use of
spiritual plants, and also by communication and interaction with spiritual beings.
Thus, among Kariri-Shoco shamans there are those who become specialized
indigenous health practitioners, who mostly work performing cure-healing rituals for
illness, curing-healing, and the mind-body relationship. I consider and utilize such
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malfunction, and of illness, which relates to the patient‟s cultural perception and
experience of sickness (Fabrega 1974; Kleinman 1980; Finkler 1985). The second
successful results of treatment, healing has a broader context of both physical and
abstract components of the “curing” process (Hahn 1995; Strathern and Stewart
1999). The mind-body distinction, basic to biomedical science, has been considered
McCallum 1996; Strathern and Stewart 1999). Thus, the ethnography about the
shamanic specialists who use medical knowledge and by those with health problems
There is only one word in Portuguese, doença (disease), which can have the
similar meanings of disease, illness, and sickness. Thus, considering those different
individuals who experience health problems, I decided to use the word doença,
(disease) and conceptual (illness) manifestation of bodily suffering among the Kariri-
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Shoco‟s concepts of different kinds of diseases-illnesses demarcate their own
religious. Then, I focus on how Kariri-Shoco‟s concepts of evil or evil eye interrelate
differentiated ethnic medical boundaries from which their ideas of “white man‟s
biomedicine. The “Indian‟s diseases” are those health problems which can only be
Diseases-illnesses that are caused by evil that enters someone‟s body have
also a contextual ethnic dimensions among the Kariri-Shoco. Health problems caused
relate to the work of Afro-Brazilian religious practitioners, which they refer to “white
shamanic specialists very often identify evil spirits on non-indigenous patients from
works of the malfeitores (those who make evilness), which they attribute to Afro-
practitioners are perceived as those responsible for health problems related to evil
sprits that can affect non-indigenous peoples. On the other hand, Kariri-Shoco people
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are very secure about the power that their shamanism has, since no indigenous people
specialists are able to cure-heal those non-indigenous people who come for health
previous section, illustrates their medical practice and perceptions. Thus, for Kariri-
Shoco people, their shamanism is powerful and they are protected from any evilness
I had the opportunity to register in my journal, during field research among the
Pankararu, their ideas of “Indian‟s disease” and “white man‟s disease,” which I find
similar to Kariri-Shoco perceptions. Acciolly and Carvalho (1998, 7-8) consider that
Pankararu notions on “white man‟s disease” are those which the Pankararu have
historically learned from Western ideas, through the “official [governmental] health
system,” while “Indian‟s diseases” are those which are caused by “spiritual
illustrated through how shamanic specialists very often use biomedical terminologies
When Acciolly and Carvalho (1998) explain that Pankararu‟s notions are
(“white man‟s diseases”) and those with spiritually related cause (“Indian‟s
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embodied health problems from which indigenous shamanistic medical knowledge
diagnoses and treats them (whether biomedical or indigenous). The use among the
as a powerful medical practice for “Indian‟s diseases” which cannot be diagnosed and
shamanic specialists and, according to their perceptions, even more powerful medical
practice.
One example is Dona Chiquinha‟s cervical cancer. I was informed that when
specialists were able to effectively cure-heal it. I talked with several people who were
was the first one who informed me about Dona Chiquinha‟s health problem when I
asked her about women‟s disease-illness. Dulcilene told me that a terrible disease had
affected her grandmother and that she had almost died from it. When she explained
that it had been cervical cancer, I asked about how she was treated by indigenous
medical knowledge. Dulcilene told me that Candara was the one who decided on
remedies and how to treat Dona Chiquinha. She said that it was a problem already of
an advanced cancer and that by the door of Dona Chiquinha‟s house could be smelled
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I had the opportunity to interview Juarez, who is Dona Chiquinha‟s son.28
Juarez explained that he brought Dona Chiquinha to the hospital, where the doctors
tried to treat her, but when they discovered that she had a very dangerous disease,
from the exam results they did not want to try any surgical procedure, because it
would not be effective. He said that after Dona Chiquinha came back home from the
hospital, they tried to use only treatments with “bush” remedies to treat her health
problem. Juarez also told me that after Dona Chiquinha was treated, he decided to
bring her to the same hospital and doctor, in order to make them take tests and
confirm her recovery. He told me very proudly that after the doctor completed her
“check up,” he was impressed and asked him how did they treat her. Juarez told him
that she was cured by their religion. Then, the doctor mentioned to him, “with
admiration” that “the Indians have two Gods: One from the whites and one of their
own!” This idea that the Kariri-Shoco have “two Gods” became very popular among
them, since I often heard Kariri-Shoco individuals mention it, when they talked about
I also talked to Candara about Dona Chiquinha‟s health problem and recovery.
discovered that she had cancer. Then he talked to Juarez and told him what they had
to do. Several plants were prescribed over several months, through daily treatments of
baths and drinking, which he told me that provided Dona Chiquinha‟s recovery.
28
He lives in Karapoto indigenous reserve in Alagoas, and is the Cacique of
the Karapoto. The Karapoto are affiliated to the Kariri-Shoco, and come to join
Kariri-Shoco Ouricuri rituals.
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Candara also said that it happened with the help of all her daughters, who took care of
Another case, happened with a younger reproductive women who also had a
case of cancer that the biomedical system diagnosed and that, according to her
interviewed this woman about her experience with this gynecological health problem,
she was five months pregnant. She explained that she took different exams in Arcajú
city, where the doctor told her that she had “a grown womb” (“útero crescido”) where
“flesh had been formed and it was infected” (“uma carne cresceu e estava
inflamada”) and that she needed to undergo surgery. She told me that the doctor
informed her family members, who learned that her health problem was cancer. She
said they did not want to tell her about it which could make her suffer even more. She
told me that the “Foundation” (FUNASA) had to cover the expenses of the surgery,
but she was informed that no financial support was available for her surgery at that
time. Therefore, she had to wait while her partner, who is an Indian from another
indigenous area, decided to bring her for health treatment among the indigenous
group where he belongs. She decided to stay there during the treatment, since there
was no option for surgery soon. Thus, it was her partner who prepared the remedies.
He would make it and leave on a pan in the morning and she drank it two or three
times daily for seventeen days. She said that she also douched and washed her lower
belly with the rest of the remedy during the treatment. When I asked her if someone
prayed on her, she said that a woman from there “prayed” on her three times.
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This happened in the year 2000. This woman explained that a few months ago
she noticed she was missing her period. She suspected that she was “getting into
menopause.” When she told this to the Sementeira health clinic medical doctor, she
prescribed an exam to check if it was pregnancy. As she had a positive result from the
exam, she explained to me that her pregnancy was the “confirmation” that she was
“cured.”
Thus, Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists perceive that they are able to treat by
performing cure-healing rituals (such as reza and mesa rituals) and with the use of
practitioners). For example, they use medicinal plants for health problems such as
asthma, colds, sore throat, pneumonia, bronchitis, fever, stroke, and others that Mota
(1987, 1997) registered, and that I have observed (and experienced treatments) during
the fieldwork, when shamanic specialists perform ritual healings and prescribe
spirits or evilness that non-indigenous people “catch” (“white man‟s disease,” evil
eye).
Still, there are health problems related to “Indian‟s disease” that can only be
problem, which intersected with biomedical knowledge. But it is within this domain
of “Indian‟s disease,” that there are health problems that Kariri-Shoco shamanic
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specialists are not able to cure-heal. Only a shamanic specialist from other indigenous
northeastern groups, who also have a shamanic Ouricuri ritual system, can treat these
I found several examples that can illustrate how bad events or disease-illness
might occur as a consequence of somebody‟s will. Dona Maria Velha explained that
she had fallen down and seriously injured her right arm. She mentioned several times
during this conversation that it was the arm that she uses to pray. Because it was not
the left arm, it was still a “not dangerous thing that came” to her, “to affect” her. After
I asked her if she knew who could have sent that to her, she explained that she knew
who the person was. She told me that the young woman she knew that was
responsible for that would receive “something back,” that she would have “what she
deserves.” When I asked Dona Maria Velha if she was going to make a spell against
that person, she told me that it would not be necessary because she knew that
something would happen. Dona Maria Velha was taking care of her arm with
ask for help because her son was in trouble because of crime. Dona Zezinha
explained that she arranged the cost with this woman for the work that she was going
to do with prayers and remedies. She told me that she charges a certain amount of
money depending on the client‟s ability to afford it. In this case, she charged an
amount of money that the woman would pay monthly. As she did the work, the
woman‟s son started to recover from the troubled situation - since his boss hired a
lawyer for his case and he was already out of jail and continuing his work. The
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woman stopped paying Dona Zezinha the amount she owed her, and Dona Zezinha
explained that bad events continued to happen with the woman‟s son, and she came
again to ask for Dona Zezinha‟s help, bringing the amount of money to pay her debt. I
asked Dona Zezinha if she had done something as a punishment to the woman. She
explained that she did not, that the problems that were happening again with the
woman‟s son were a punishment that was sent by those who protect Dona Zezinha‟s
work, because the woman did not respect the agreement. Thus I understood that a
punishment is sent by spiritual beings who protect the shaman‟s interests and works.
That is why Dona Maria Velha was so sure that the young woman would receive
“something back.”
This perception that shamanic specialists have is very recurrent on their idea
that spiritual beings with whom they communicate also care about them and protect
interviews they express this idea. For example, when I was talking to Dona Maria
“Behind the cure [reza ritual] the person who is curing has a body guard, who
comes already from our grandparents, from our fathers. As you know we are
Indians, we live with our worship, we have to have our protector behind.”
investigated the double meaning of the term cure (cura) that Mota (1987) described in
her thesis.29 Although Pajé Júlio confirmed that the notion of cure among the Kariri-
Shoco has a double meaning, which can be understood as the recovery of well-being
29
I have described Mota‟s (1987) observations about Kariri-Shoco ideas of
cure in Chapter III.
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(in a sense of being healed), or when something negative is sent upon someone (as an
After I asked about cases that I had found about women who reported their
experiences with “Indian‟s disease” which, according to what I found, meant they had
“There are cures that we [shamans] can cure…it is for the person to get well…
There are cures that we try, but we can‟t. Then, instead of curing the person,
you harm the person because sometimes the person has to pay for what has
done, we cannot uncover that… but when it is something normal, something
light, we cure and the person gets well… I mean about our part as Indians
[curing-healing Indians].”
healing sense) by their religion (shamanism) and why it happens. He gave this
explanation:
“This happens, the religion cures and it is very defined [clear], we are already
used to it! And it depends on the person‟s procedure [behavior], because if the
person has goodness, it is definitive… and has to maintain, that is what cures
the person… The religion [shamanism] has its own way. It has the scheme
like we have to survive with [/through] it... We have this knowledge and it is a
need… It is difficult to catch something bad, but if the person knows the
schema and facilitates [taking risks], it means that what the person deserves is
discipline. If the person disrespect a support that values the person and
everybody else… and for the person is diminishing [devaluating]. Then it is
not a religion from outside, it is something different. We have that knowledge,
we cure and we don‟t cure, do you understand? The person cannot keep,
preserve that… even myself can be harmed! Do you understand?”
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person deserves to receive, when it is an “Indian‟s disease.” I insisted on asking him
why those were problems that Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists were not able to
cure-heal. According to him, when the nature of the health problem is investigated,
shamanic specialists do discover who is responsible for the embodied health problem.
What happens is that Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists “cannot undo what another
shaman makes” (“não pode desfazer o que o outro xamã faz”). Thus, he said one of
the procedures in those cases is to go to the shamanic specialist “who sent that
punishment to that creature and ask him the forgiveness for that person.” I understood
that Pajé Júlio‟s perception is that when it happens that a shamanic specialist
“cure” for that person, who deserves it. Thus, the notion of the suffering experienced
this is my point of view on this issue, which is complicated considering, for example,
three cases of young women, who reported that had suffered from “Indian‟s disease”
as victims, according to what they said, from the evil work of powerful shamanic
specialists.
I asked shamanic specialist case studies, if the meaning for the term cure was
used in a similar way. Usually they explained that the person could receive something
negative because she or he deserves it. Thus, I started to conclude that the notion of
cure (as inversed healing), like Pajé Júlio‟s explanation, has a meaning more related
to a punitive sense, from which the person who receives it deserves it. Still, I realized
that I had never heard the word cure in a sense of inversed healing, or in a sense that a
person had been bewitched, as Mota (1987) had found out. Explanations about
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something evil that can be sent to someone were never explained by the use of the
word “cure.”
Most of the Kariri-Shoco people that I have interviewed do not say that
witchcraft (feitiçaria) exists among them or that they know how to harm or to “make
an evilness” (“fazer uma maldade”) against someone, although there are cases where
disease-illness, was sent upon someone. Three women who told me about their
I perceived that Kariri-Shoco people do not like to recognize that they know
healing purposes, from which it guarantees what Langdon (1992a) pointed out as the
purpose of shamanism; the “well being of society and its individuals” (Langdon
1992a, 13). According to Langdon (1992a) shamanism “in its broadest sense… is
preoccupied… with social harmony, and with growth and reproduction of the entire
practices, because, according to their understandings, they are responsible for sending
evil upon people who then become their patients. I realized that Kariri-Shoco
is due to their assuredness that they work with goodness. This is also a way that
have already mentioned that I heard very often from Kariri-Shoco indigenous
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rezador/rezadeira and curandeiro shamans about their experience with cure-healing
and also about the fear that some Kariri-Shoco felt for him. He explained that he
knew several people who thought he was a “sorcerer,” but he said, “Witchcraft is
something created in the person‟s mind, invocated by a weak guardian angel of that
“In this world it is one against the other… it is worse for the weakest ones, in
their lost illusion for knowledge. I am a guardian, I am an adviser, and I work
for peace and harmony… I will never destroy a person.”
when she explained about how she provides protection for her son who is traveling
away:
“In my work I have to be prepared to help people, like my son who is abroad.
He can ask me to prepare him wherever he is. From here he receives there.
For example, maybe somebody here wants to dominate him saying things that
shouldn‟t say, here I feel, right? I feel that concern and say: „My son traveled,
my God, what is happening?‟ I go to my backyard; I look at the stars, the light
of the Moon. Then I ask God for the help, then in the words of prayers,
depending on the reaction of my body, crying, I ask for him [her son]. Then he
calls, then he tells me that he is fine.”
manipulate and send to another, against which protection can be provided or acquire.
Rodrigues (1948) explains that in the Kipea language that Mamiani ([1699] 1979)
registered, there is a word which means “devil” (nhewó) and also a word to define
(Rodrigues 1948, 195). Rodrigues (1948) supposes that there was also the expression
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“bidzamú canghi,” which would mean “good witch or guesser” (Rodrigues 1948,
195) that was not registered by Mamiani ([1699] 1979).30 Rodrigues (1948) argues
that in this way there would exist, among Kipea-speaking Kariri people, the “doctor”
(good healer, the one who cures the sick with blows, words, or songs) and the “witch”
(evil witch or guesser) as the one who sends witchcraft to kill others (Rodrigues 1948,
195). This author considers this similar to what Tessman (1930) registered describing
the Omágua and Kokama from Northeast Peru (Rodrigues 1948). Independent of the
existence or not of different kinds of shamans (good and evil) among the Kariri
peoples, Rodrigues‟ (1948) analysis reveals evidence that existed already in pre-
Colombian Kariri peoples in Northeast Brazil: the notions of evil and good was
already there within their culture. Pajé Júlio‟s interview is an illustration of how those
ideas are still present among the Kariri-Shoco culture. I believe that they were
explained that “each shaman has his own spirit which is part of only one chain
[corrente] of spirits.” When I asked him another verification question about how
“The spirits do dispute among themselves because there exist the good and
the evil, and the good does not get adapted to the evil. The evil always wants
to dominate the good in any way.”
30
I understand that Rodrigues (1948) bases his supposition on the prejudiced
view of Mamiani ([1699]1979) who, as a Catholic missionary from the seventeenth
century, would not consider that shamans could work with goodness.
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I interpreted Pajé Júlio‟s explanation that “chains of spirits” are associated to
the kinship status, which shamanic specialists occupy within a cognatic ritual kinship
form “discrete or relatively discrete corporate groups… and choice, flexibility, and
multiple memberships are never as broad as the ideology implies” (Keesing 1991,
kinship terminology statuses (such as Mãe, Pai, Avó, Avô) are traced through
descent. In this logic, shamans and their descendants may form categories or groups
called clans, and if it is a case of a society “conceived as divided into two parts,
ones‟ father‟s side, matri-moieties if one belongs to ones‟ mother‟s side)” (Keesing
1991, 31). Considering this logic of a cognatic kinship system, which I argue exists
ritually among the Kariri-Shoco, and considering Pajé Júlio‟s information on “chains
of spirits,” in which shamans “are part of only one,” it is strongly possible that
through those “chains of spirits,” associated with ritual kinship status, clans and
kinship system.
Actually, this is the case of the Fulni-ô, an affiliated indigenous group of the
described by Pinto (1956) and Bodin (1949). Pinto (1956) identified five different
sibs that Boudin (1949) called clans within Fulni-ô‟s social organization. Pinto (1959)
observed that those Fulni-ô sibs are associated with animals and plants. This is part of
Fulni-ô‟s secrecy about their Ouricuri ritual practice that Pinto (1956) explored and
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exposed. The Fulni-ô strongly reject today Pinto‟s (1956) book because, according to
them, the book contains information about their secrets related to their Ouricuri ritual.
My intention here in discussing this subject does not expose the Kariri-Shoco‟s
secrets, but clarifies that their shamanic specialist status within a cognatic ritual
conceptions of “good” and “evil” are based. Also, this is evidence that they have an
indigenous idea of evil, from which the shamanic work of avoiding, not letting the
use Foster and Anderson‟s (1978) classification of medical regimens. Foster and
define as the “personalistic system,” which are those caused by actions of malevolent
or punitive agents, and illnesses characterized by the “naturalistic system,” which are
those that the causation of the illness is based on the properties of the body itself and
aspects of the cosmos, which interferes with the balance of the body (Foster and
how Kariri-Shoco perceive embodied doenças (or symptoms related to doença), from
regimens.
evil, evil eye, witchcraft (and, I would suspect, evil spirits) can be considered as
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within an intersection of the personalistic and naturalistic accommodation domains,
which, according to Foster (1994), is the case of the notion of evil eye found in
several ethnographic studies, which have focused on evil eye in Brazil (Araújo 1955;
Maués 1990; Galvão 1955; and Taussig 1993). Strathern and Stewart (1999) argue,
though, that in Latin America this intersection has occurred, not because of the
imposition of the naturalistic medical regimen as a result of the wide spread humoral
ideas (of hot/cold scheme) disseminated into the New World (according to Foster‟s
[1994] analysis). Strathern and Stewart (1999) argue that the naturalistic view of
humoral ideas was assimilated, meshing easily with indigenous concepts, because
exemplified in the case of the Aztec who had already a culture where the hot/cold
causations, and continue to discuss and analyze where indigenous concepts and
During an interview, when I asked Pajé Júlio about why a doença (disease-
illness) is caught and how a person can become sick, he explained how it happens
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something spiritual, because the spirits can also reach us, and I can take it out
directly. And the person be cured.”
among the Kariri-Shoco as to how health problems in general are treated using the
that they obtain all the protection they need, including protection from doenças. Thus,
if somebody becomes sick, there is always a suspicion that something happened, like
Pajé Júlio explained, that the person “facilitated” something. Thus a person may be
someone by a doença or spirit. This perception reflects what Foster and Anderson
(1978) have defined as the personalistic domain, when a punitive agent is responsible
for illness causation. In Pajé Júlio‟s explanation above, there is also a naturalistic
perception, when he mentions that “maybe in a moment that the person [was] not
covered” or “not protected,” which implies the vision that, from a determined
only works with cure-healing practices within the reserve, told me:
“It is easier to cure white people because with the Indians, the Pajé knows that
if somebody makes a mistake the person will be punished by the religion
itself, and the Pajé knows that we have to work with that Indian to discover if
he has been exemplified [punished] by the religion, by a supreme power, so
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we have to work to ask for the person‟s redemption, for the person‟s
forgiveness. Thus, it is different from the white.”
the religion.” But different kinds of doenças among the Kariri-Shoco are intersected
punishment) that enters the person‟s body is usually associated with symptoms of the
“open arcs” is a health problem, which causes pain and provides vulnerability of the
body.
From the health problems treated in cure-healing rituals, there are two major
shamanic specialists on their indigenous patients. There are those that enter the body
(evil, evil eye, “contamination,” evil spirits, etc.), which I discuss first, and there are
those which relate to something that is displaced or was displaced within the body,
such as “open breast” (“peito aberto”), “fallen spine” (“espinhela caída”), “leaked
gall” (“fel derramado”), the “owner/mistress of the body” (“dona-do corpo”), and
others.
Thus, someone who becomes sick usually utilizes the Kariri-Shoco reza ritual,
which is very often one of the first steps taken towards cure-healing processes, and,
after that, the mesa ritual when it relates to dangerous spirit causation. The shamanic
specialist investigates the nature of the patient‟s health problem, then “takes it away”
or “attracts” it from the patient, closing the person‟s body. The reza rituals described
in the next chapter and Pajé Júlio, Chiquinho, Kenedy, and Dona Maria Velha‟s
160
explanations about the purpose of reza rituals reveals that it investigates “what God
has to do” (“o que Deus tem a fazer”) and “what is behind” (“o que esta por trás”) the
negative emotion (naturalistic cause), may have worsened her disease-illness (evil
eye). The fact that she drank a cold drink (hot/cold scheme) worsened her evil eye
symptom, provoking “fever inside” and “headache.” Thus, the intersection between
both medical models was perceived and experienced. The emotion of “anger,” when
she was not being “covered,” provided a naturalistic imbalance and provoked
openness of her body and vulnerability to “catch” or worsen a health problem, in her
when it is open. Thus, the emotion of anger is directly associated with her bodily
evil eye (personalistic view), sent probably by her husband‟s relatives. The emotion
of anger is also the cause of several pregnancy losses, which will be described in
Chapter VIII. The emotion of susto (sudden frightening) is also directly associated
with causes of pregnancy loss that are often perceived as a naturalistic way of
miscarriage. Thus, very often both medical models, naturalistic and personalistic,
about why the rezador/rezadeira yawns during a reza ritual. She explained how
161
differently she experiences it, depending if it is a man or a woman that may have
“When it is a man who puts evil eye, I feel that will to yawn but it comes
back. When it is a woman I feel that will and I can, I open my mouth (yawn)
very much, that sometimes tears drop from my eyes. The yawn is because of
the evil eye, because it is passing. Why is it evil eye? Because of the bad eye,
of admiration, on the person‟s work that someone admires, it is because of
that eyesight. But the will to yawn depends on the evil eye, if the person
doesn‟t have evil eye, the rezador/rezadeira does not open the mouth [yawn],
but if the person has, the rezador/rezadeira yawns and the person also yawns
because feels that evil eye passing, feels that the bad eye is getting out with
God‟s words.”
Then Dulcilene described how recently her eight year old son “caught” an evil
eye. She said she noticed that he was so quiet, without wanting to eat, sleepy, with a
“gastura” (nausea). Dulcilene told me that she decided to pray on him: “To see if he
had something,” when she discovered that he was with “such a strong evil eye,” that
she “yawned so much that even tears came out from [her] eyes.” She told me that
after she prayed on him, she felt “something bad inside” her, “like without strength,
feeling nausea.” She described how the leaves were shrunk and the way she had
yawned during the ritual, the person who put an evil eye on her son “could only be
from a woman.” Dulcilene‟s explanation illustrates how she embodied her son‟s evil
eye. During reza rituals the shamanic specialist‟s body opens and that is why an
embodiment of the patient‟s health problem may occur in the shaman‟s body.
Once, I asked Dona Maria Velha what is the most common health problem
that she cures during the reza rituals she performs. She said that it is evil eye, which
“Evil eye happens because the child is fat and is eating well, is being breastfed
with that taste and appetite, and somebody looks and say: „Look, what a boy!‟
The person doesn‟t know how to say „God bless!‟ And says, „Look how he is
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eating!‟ Can you see? All of this is an eye. And it is not an eye that can only
be put on a child. Like on a child, it also can be put on an adult, on an old
man, on a young woman, on anybody can be put. But the person doesn‟t know
that is putting an evil eye, doesn‟t know that is with a bad blood on that time,
that is doing that evil, without willing to, but is doing.”
After this explanation, Dona Maria Velha mentioned that the person has “a
bad blood” when he/she is jealous of someone and puts an evil eye by saying
something. She describes, then, evil eye as the “worst macumba [witchcraft] that
exists”:
“Now, if someone goes to the open market every week, and brings that big
bag of groceries, and someone looks and says: “Look, will she have it next
week [the big grocery bag]?‟ Then it is already weakening your body… You
don‟t know what is bothering you. It is the eye that was put on whatever was
on you. Then it goes weakening, weakening your body. You go to the doctor
and doctor doesn‟t know what it is. Then comes back home. It is! It is the
worst macumba that exists, it‟s the big eye, on what it has, and the worst thing
is the evil eye. It is the weakest, but it can kill. If it passes to the intestines of
the child, it is the last one [last place]. When it is provoking [vomiting], with
belly ache, but when it passes to the intestines of the child is the last one… the
child dies.”
someone by alive (“alive evil eye”) people or a spirit (“dead evil eye”) which may
enter someone‟s body causing a health problem that can only be treated through
Dona Maria Velha‟s perception confirms that evil eye, evilness, and evil spirit,
are health problems understandable by the intersection of the personalistic system and
also shows that Strathern and Stewart‟s (1999) observation on how the person who
feels the emotion of envy (naturalistic causation) is the one who endangers someone
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by transmitting an evil eye (witchcraft, personalistic). According to my analysis,
“contamination”) is possible because both parties have their bodies opened: the one
who sends, who transmits evil through an emotion (vision and speech), and the one
who receives, who is “not covered.” This situation, according to Strathern and
Stewart (1999) in analyzing evil eye, evidences also the intersection of “morality and
illness” (Strathern and Stewart 1999, 21), which I argue is based on a naturalistic way
shamanic specialists are able to treat health problems caused by something evil. In
this cultural context something evil may come out from someone through vision or
speech (usually from the emotion of envy), or through the evil “airs” or “winds” that
may enter in someone‟s body (the victim of the evil eye, several „diseases of airs‟
naturalistic theory of the body („openness‟ and „closedness‟), as it also occurs when
doença dos ares are caught. Considering cure-healing performances, this theory of the
body allows a communication between the shamanic specialist and the patient. The
shamanic specialists have the power and strength of words and sacred-secret airs (soft
blows and suctions). From shamanic specialists‟ communication with spirits, they are
rituals is realized through this shamanic power and strength from an „openness‟ and
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It is when the person has “bad blood” (“sangue ruim”) that he/she may
personalistic view, is also strongly based on their knowledge of the body. Thus,
speech and vision are dangerous bodily channels from which the „openness‟ of the
body, allows the transmission of the evil in a naturalized way, through the body of the
one who is with a “bad blood” to the victim who casts the evil (which often happens
when the person has the body open, and, in the case of Julie‟s baby, which I describe
Several explanations which I have recorded about how a person can “put”
(“botar”) an evil eye on another shows that evil eye is transmitted (“put”) when a
person says something, sometimes with admiration, or with envy. Thus it is through
the act of speaking (when air comes out of a person‟s body through the mouth) and
also through a person‟s eyes during the act of looking (the eyesight that comes out of
the person‟s body) that an evil eye is sent or put upon someone. Thus, both speech
and vision are dangerous channels through which evilness can be transmitted.31 Often
it is explained that the person does not know that has put an evil eye on someone.
After Dona Marieta prayed on Julie‟s newborn child, Julie recognized that, through
her eyes, looking at her newborn‟s eyes with admiration, she had put an evil eye on
him when he had his eyes opened, but this was her assumption.
Julie, who brought her newborn child for Dona Marieta‟s reza ritual, was
willing to let her son receive a “cure” that is not provided through biomedical
31
Seeger (1981) in researching the Suyá, an indigenous Macro-Gê group from
Central Brazil, observed and registered how vision and speech are dangerous and
sacred senses for the Suyá.
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assistance, in order to achieve the baby‟s health recovery and protection. In both
cases (Kenedy‟s patient and Julie‟s baby), they were with evil eye, from which
something evil inside their bodies could only be taken out through a reza cure-healing
ritual. The personalistic medical regimen is the cause of the evil eye (Julie suspected
that she was the one who sent the evil to her newborn, and Kenedy‟s patient
symptoms of diarrhea (Julie‟s baby) and “sore throat” or “fever inside” (Kenedy‟s
The same thing happened with Dona Marieta‟s doença, when she was a victim
of an evil spirit from the wind, and assisted by shamanic specialists cure-healing
medical practices. She was diagnosed and treated for a health problem that intersects
with a personalistic cause (evil spirit) which provided her loss of bodily balance
(naturalistic cause) caused by something from the cosmos (wind, airs), but also
related to the moment that she was not “covered” (body open). Her daughter,
Tarcisia, suspected that it could have happened because of the “hot mango” (hot/cold
“airs” that several diseases-illnesses can be caught.32 Pajé Júlio explained to me that
actually it is conceived that “the air of fourteen modes” (“ar dos catorze modos”) is a
spirit that “commands all winds and airs.” Pajé Júlio explained: “He [the air of
32
It is important to observe that the Kariri-Shoco consider “air” or “wind” as
actually the air that we breath related to a light breeze or to a strong wind, which are
perceived as dangerous because they may carry or bring evil spirits.
166
fourteen modes] is the chief who dominates all airs, which are all bad spirits, only bad
spirits, and that is why they are so dangerous.” Those different kinds of airs related to
“bad spirits” are mentioned in several reza rituals, when shamanic specialists sense
that the patient‟s health problem relates to those diseases-illnesses. The “air of
congestion” is “the lightest one,” which causes a “startle” of a person who “can be
cured quickly with a tea.” The “feared air” (“ar temeroso”), which is similar to the
“tremble air” (“ar de pancada”), is “the one that may catch a person who is walking
in a forest or on his[or her] path,” when the person “suddenly feels a different kind of
air” and “with the fright or fear the person has to make the Cross sign to be
protected.” They are both “dangerous airs.” The “bad airs” also mentioned during a
reza ritual refer to “all bad spirits.” The “yellow air” is the one “who provokes
typhoid fever,” while the “cold air” provokes “malaria.” The “hot air” provokes
“fever or hot flushes on the body,” like the ones that “women during menopause
catch,” and the “warm air” also provokes “caloria” (“hotness”), but it is lighter” than
the “hot air.” The “air of sinusitis” causes “headaches” and it has to be carefully
33
It had been several years that I had suffered from regular sinusitis crises.
When I experienced one during field research, I went to a otorrinolaringologist in
Recife who prescribed a strong and expensive antibiotic treatment, which I decided to
take. Fifteen days after the antibiotics treatment I still had sinusitis symptoms, and
decided to ask for Candara‟s indigenous medical help. He made a “bottle remedy” for
my health problem, which I took three times a day, and also he gave me three pieces
of a certain kind of a beehive (“cera”), I was told “to burn one piece each night [on
coal fire] during three days” along with the “bottle remedy.” The beehive smoke I had
to strongly and deeply inhale through each nostril at a time. Candara explained that,
after a time, “something bad” would come out from my nose, but I should not worry
because it would be part of the healing process. Candara also told me that during
those three days of treatment I should not have sexual intercourse, because I was
going to drink Jurema which was mixed with other medicinal plants in his “bottle
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The “air of epilepsy,” which provokes “epilepsy,” and “air of parnar,” which
causes “stroke,” are considered “very dangerous airs.” Pajé Júlio explained that those
“airs,” which are similar, are associated with health problems that are related to “the
air of seven modes” mentioned in reza rituals. 34 He told me that a person who is
affected by those kinds of “air has to be treated urgently before seven days with
smudges35 and prayers.” According to Pajé Júlio‟s description “they are very
dangerous and evil airs” which are identified as those that “break glasses and
mirrors,” that “break matter.” Those are the ones that sometimes cause irreversible
descriptions of different kinds of mal aires (evil airs). According to the curandeiro‟s
explanations mal aires come from the forest, river, dead spirits, and from spirits of
dead people who drowned in the river. Taussig (1987) also describes two ways of
healing from mal aires, one with the use of words (to scare them away) and another,
of a girl cured by a curandeiro‟s blows of yagé smoke. Taussig (1987) suggests that
those perceptions of mal aires causations are associated with the historical process of
remedy.” Another procedure was that after I inhale the bee remedy smoke, as a
“resguardo” (confinement), I should not talk to anyone, and had to stay in bed to rest
and sleep. After Candara‟s health treatment I have not experienced any sinusitis crisis
yet.
34
According to Ortiz (1978), within Quimbanda Afro-Brazilian religion there
is a Caboclo called Ubirajara, who is a Exu (spirit related to the evil) of seven winds.
35
“Smudges” are treatments made with the use of smoke of plants that is
directed to patients who may inhale some of the smoke. It is also used inside houses
to purify environments.
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Bastien (1987) mentions mal de aires among the Kallawaya from the Andes
(Bolivia), and explains the air is “an invisible fluid substance” perceived by these
people as one of the “primary body fluids” (Bastien 1987, 70). This author mentions
that “breath is associated with wind [wayra], the cause of mal de aire, which includes
muscle and nerve disorders from paralysis, such as Bell‟s palsy, to muscle cramps”
(Bastien 1987, 70) and “rheumatism and arthritis” (Bastien 1987, 46). Bastien (1987)
also describes treatments that the Kallawaya perform by blowing smoke on the
Shoco do have a perception of “evil air” or “evil wind” as a channel from which
the treatments for those health problems caused by evil winds are also similar to the
ones that the Kallawaya have. The use of smudges, the smoke of medicinal plants, is
part of Kariri-Shoco treatments. Bastien (1987) argues that the health problems‟
perception is associated not with an imbalance of the body, but with a non-circulation
of body fluids‟ perception. I argue that, among the Kariri-Shoco, it relates to their
„closedness.‟
perception that the theory of the opened body is more visible. “Leaked gall” and
“fallen belly” (“ventre caido”) are health problems that usually happen by a
169
movement on the body, which may happen on a newborn child when the person who
holds the baby makes a movement that may cause something inside the baby‟s belly,
for example “leaked gall” (upsurge of bile, or gall) harming unintentionally the baby
and causing digestive malfunction, which is very dangerous for newborn children.
Health problems like “open arcs,” “open breasts” and “failed spine,” which
happen more in adults, are caused by the person‟s own move, from which something
is displaced in the thorax, whether on the back (“arcs”), on the breasts, or on the
spine. These provide pain, weakness, nausea, and other symptoms associated with the
body‟s „openness‟.
Pajé Júlio explained to me that when the person has “open breats, they feel
that something is not fixed between the breasts” and they “feel weak.” In addition, he
told me that “open arcs” is the same problem, but it is felt on the person‟s back
“between the shoulders.” According to Pajé Júlio, what is dangerous about this health
problem is that “the person has the body opened” (on the thorax), and in this way “the
it is through the “opened” thorax where “an evil spirit can enter a person‟s body.”
Thus, those health problems, which are intrinsically within the naturalistic
domain, cause „openness‟ of the body, and, therefore, they have to be treated by a
specific reza ritual, which provides the „closedness‟ for health recovery, by making
something inside “go back” to the right place. This characterizes the perception, not
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It is within those categories of naturalistic causation that I focus now on a
displacement of something inside the female body called the “dona do corpo” (which
can be translated as “the Mistress” or “the female owner” of the body). The dona do
corpo is an emic female organ that provokes “dor de mulher” (“woman‟s pain”). I
household (like the way I was treated as “Dona Sílvia”), and, also, I consider the
meaning of “dona” in the sense of the “owner,” as the female one who owns the body.
In this phrase the – dona do corpo – can have the meaning of the female owner of the
specialists conceive and women experience the “dona do corpo” inside their belly as
information provided by Pajé Júlio, and ethnographic data about a similar emic organ
“The dona do corpo is criada [grows] inside the woman‟s belly. The fetus
may catch her [contract the dona do corpo] during pregnancy inside the
mother‟s belly and the [female] baby is already born with her. When this
happens, it is more difficult to treat, but when another woman catches it, it is
easy to cure. I know seeds that make it to be cured. It is also easy to cure
because the woman only needs to put a man‟s belt on her belly and „she‟ goes
back to her place.”
36
The word “dona” is a female word according to the female gender of the
one who owns something. For example, if the owner is a male, the word used is
“dono.”
171
It is interesting because from Pajé Júlio‟s quotation, “dona do corpo” is
use of the same term, “dona do corpo,” associated with symptoms of pain, often
referred to as “dor de mulher.” Thus, this term “dona do corpo” converges semantic
female emic organ. I understand that Pajé Júlio answered the question by making
question was directed to verify how it causes health problems. Then, I asked him
another verification question about how a pregnant woman transmits the “dona do
explained:
congenitally (contracted from the mother) or can be gendered contagious (as it can be
transmitted by a woman who has it). It is responsible for provoking pains in different
parts of the woman‟s body. What characterizes this female gendered emic organ is as
an “inflammation” (as Pajé Júlio mentioned). It causes pain and blood fluxes (by
172
The medical anthropologist Ceres Victoria (1997) has ethnographically
described a similar female emic organ called “a mãe do corpo” (“the body‟s
mother”). She interviewed one hundred women who live in shantytowns in Porto
Alegre, and seventeen who were in a public hospital of this same city in southern
Brazil. This anthropologist describes how the women researched, who were urban
workers, consider the “body‟s mother” as “something that „looks after the baby
before it is born,‟ and „it looks for the baby after delivery,‟ which reflects cultural
notions of space occupation and correlated ideas about how people should dwell”
For the Brazilian groups who live in a more fluid space organization, the body
has a more fluid structure, allowing the possibility of organs that move from
place to place or are „awakened‟ according to the bodily situation, such as the
„emic‟ organ „the body‟s mother‟ (mãe do corpo). (Victoria 1997,171)
provides symptoms of female pains, and is conceived as a female doença. Thus, the
contribute to the understanding of the existence of this female emic organ, but their
173
historical process of male oppression. In the following chapter I describe four reza
rituals (one was for “arcas abertas” [“open arcs”]) performed on indigenous people
174
CHAPTER VI
are related to knowledge. Its efficacy has been considered from a perspective that
communication that efficacy takes place as a metaphor that expresses and alters
involves healing form, assumption of the world, and genres or rhetorical devices that
Robert Desjarlais (1996, 150) points out that this “symbolist position” could
not provide explanations in his research for answering the question “why a Yolmo
shaman from Nepal searches for a spirit and actually finds it” (Desjarlais 1996, 150),
nor for “how or why Yolmo shamans heal” (Desjarlais 1996, 150). The existential
understanding of “the sensory grounds of a person‟s existence” and how the recovery
of “lost vitality” works through ritual practices. He identified that the comprehension
175
embodiment related, but not restricted, to representations and symbolic aspects of
ritual healing. His analyses reflect a contemporary theoretical concern with the notion
of healing as performance.
embodiment in situated and contextual interactions with healing processes and rituals
healing is engaged with the senses and the social order (Laderman and Roseman
1996). Sickness and ritual healing are then perceived as cultural performance. This
embodiment that Kariri-Shoco shamans experience and sense the patient‟s health
176
Therapeutic or curing-healing processes take place within a cultural
environment with implicit cultural meanings and definitions for sickness, illness or
distress (Csordas and Kleinmen 1990). In the case of Kariri-Shoco shamanism, the
shamans are the ones who diagnose and treat, and in few cases they are also seen as
the ones who provoke or send a health problem upon someone. In this way, shamans
are those who hold the power of their knowledge and practice. In the cultural
posed by Kleinman and Sung (1979) that “to the extent that indigenous practitioners
provide culturally legitimated treatment of illness, they must heal” (Kleinman and
Sung 1979, 24). This is perhaps not a paradox but the context of the medical practice
domain. The path followed for understanding Kariri-Shoco cure-healing rituals links
the healer and the patient who experience an embodied communication through the
medical practice. I consider that the interaction between the shamanic specialist and
medical knowledge, such as Good (1994) would consider. Thus, the theoretical
which shamanistic rituals are performed as a medical practice where the patient‟s
body is under control of the shamanic specialist. These cure-healing medical practices
177
It is important to note that both Mamiani ([1699] 1942, 84), in the late
seventeenth century, and Nantes ([1706] 1979) in the early eighteenth century
registered,37 when describing Kariri peoples, use of words, chants, and blows, which
One could believe that some of them had agreement with the Devil, because
they did not use, as remedy, for all maladies, other than the tobacco smoke
and certain prayers, singing chants savage as themselves, without pronouncing
any word. 38 (Nantes [1706] 1979, 4).
rituals. Mamiani ([1699] 1942) mentions that those earlier Kariri used “to cure the
sick with blows, to cure with words, or with songs” (Mamiani [1699] 1942, 84). I
consider these indigenous therapeutic methods and the historical continuity of their
use evidence of the important status of language, words, and “ares” (airs) for
indigenous people. The use of words, chants and blows for cure-healing shows the
importance and power of what comes out of the shamanic specialists‟ mouth through
words (prayers, songs) and airs (blows, suctions and blows). The three reza rituals
shamanic specialists.
37
Mamiani ([1699] 1942) registered the Kipea language of Kariri people
located in Northeast Bahia state, while Nantes ([1709] 1979) described Kariri people
who used to speak the Dzubukua language, located in a missionary settlement by São
Francisco River in the North of Bahia state (Rodrigues 1948).
38
My translation, Podia-se acreditar que alguns deles tinham entendimento
com o Diabo, pois não usavam, como remédio, para todos os males, senão a fumaça
do tabaco e certas rezas, cantando toadas tão selvagens quanto eles, sem pronunciar
qualquer palavra. Nantes ([1706] 1979, 4).
178
Cure-healing rituals performed by Dona Marieta, Candara, Kenedy, Ducilene,
and Dona Maria Velha were observed and video-recorded at their homes. The scenes
recorded were obtained sporadically and opportunistically when people very often
performances were digital video-recorded during field research. From the beginning, I
was amazed by how often those shamanic specialists are busy with those who seek
their help, particularly Candara, Dona Marieta and Dona Maria Velha, who were the
people requested them very often for reza rituals. Non-indigenous people come from
the country, from other larger cities (from Sergipe, Bahia, and Alagoas states), or
from Porto Real do Colegio town. Most of these non-indigenous people are poor, but
many cases of middle-or upper-middle class people were registered, who also use
indigenous medical practice. Examples of these last cases were the wife of the Judge
from Porto Real do Colegio Ministry of Justice Court and a medical doctor who came
for Dona Maria Velha‟s medical practice. This shows how, in this cultural context,
particularly for health problems related to evil eyes or evil spirits. Because I focus on
the Kariri-Shoco themselves, the selection of rituals for description and analysis were
those only concerning indigenous people. The exception is the mesa ritual, which is
individual.
179
In the beginning I was shy to record film images, but as I continued to watch
these events, and with the shamanic specialist‟s and patient‟s consent, I started to
video-record them. The experience of frequently video recording, each time I watched
reza rituals with the same shamanic specialists, provided a naturalization of my use of
the camcorder for shamanic specialists whom I selected as case studies. The use of
the camcorder actually turned out to be a tool with which those rezador/rezadeira and
The purpose of these three different rituals which I have observed, such as
39
“reza,” “reza para arcas abertas” (“reza for open arcs”) and mesa, is to cure-heal
the patient by closing the person‟s body. The idea that the body can be “opened body”
practices since it expresses implicit dispositions of the body. When I describe how
these rituals are performed, I illustrate which sicknesses are treated through them. In
the next section, I focus and analyze diseases-illnesses as they are experienced. It is in
the next chapter, about female embodiment, where I discuss the shamans‟
this knowledge of the body, where the „closedness‟ or „openness‟ of their bodies is
rituals (reza and reza para arcas abertas and mesa rituals). Those practices have been
39
Reza ritual for “open arcs” is usually associated to other health problems such as
“failed spine” (“espinhela caida”) or “open breast” (“peito aberto”).
180
registered since the seventeenth century, and authors associate them with magical
practices (Priori 1994) or of popular medicine (Souza 2002), which are widespread
throughout Brazil.
For example, Souza (1986) mentions that in the eighteenth century a rezador
named José Januário da Silva, used to start the reza for evil eye saying the person‟s
name and “…with two was given, with three it is taken, in the name of God and of
Virgin Mary”40 (Souza 1986, 179). This is a beginning similar to that of the reza
used for starting the ritual, such as “with two was put in you, with three I take from
you” referring to evil eye. Thus, the notions and rituals of evil eye (and other health
problems) remain present for at least three centuries in the Northeast Brazil cultural
spiritual beings mentioned in prayers, who often belong to the cosmos. Even when
Catholic saints are mentioned, they are considered indigenous. Also, while non-
indigenous Catholics consider and experience those reza rituals as a blessing, Kariri-
Shoco patients experience those rituals within their particular way of embodiment,
the family under the patriarchal economy in Brazil describes as indigenous cultural
influence several procedures to protect children from “evil spirits… evil eye and other
malign influences” (Freyre 1986, 143). As I will discuss in the next section, there is
40
My translation, ...com dois to deram, com três to tirem. Em nome de Deus e
da Virgem Maria. Souza (1987, 179).
181
strong evidence to consider that indigenous Kariri peoples had already the notion and
performances are medical practices when the use of traditional therapeutic methods of
words, blows and chants, which Mamiani ([1699] 1942) and Nantes ([1706] 1979)
described, are still part of indigenous medical practices in rituals. This is illustrated
with “reza,” “reza para arcas abertas” and “mesa” ritual descriptions. My focus is on
embodiment and also on how cure-healing rituals are experienced through indigenous
therapeutic methods, which are still being used as indigenous medical practice by the
Kariri-Shoco.
The most common ritual that I observed is the one referred to as reza or cura
they pray on the whole patient‟s body in order to discover if the cause of the suffering
relates to something evil. This evil often relates to a diagnosis of evil eye that was put
on the patient‟s body. Depending on what the shaman finds in the patient‟s body
about “what is behind” (“o que esta por trás”) the patient‟s doença (“disease”), the
patient can be cure-healed. During the reza ritual the shamanic specialist uses three
Plants used during a reza ritual give spiritual protection by absorbing something
evil from the patient‟s body. Medicinal plants like vassorinha, mastruz and others
may be used. The shamanic specialist may use leaves of different plants jointly to
perform the reza ritual. This may vary according to the shamanic specialist‟s
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preference. The rezadeira or rezador shaman collects the plant leaves directly from a
shrub in their back or front yard before the ritual. It is also through the leaves that the
shaman confirms if the patient has an evil eye (when the leaves shrink) and discovers
if the evil eye was put in the patient by a male or female person (depending on the
leaves disposition after the reza ritual is performed). This provides also a visual
sensory confirmation of diagnosis and cure, when both shaman and patient visualize
trembling the hand that holds the leaves (usually pinhão-roxo), making a shaking
movement to four different directions (up, down, left, right) and also circular hand
movements with the leaves in the direction of the patient‟s head or breast. I concluded
that they have the same style of performing reza rituals because they conduct them in
a similar way. Dona Maria Velha has a different method. She usually stands in front
of the patient (while the others sit in front of the patient) and she uses plants, such as
vassourinha or mastruz, making circular movements with the leaves. She passes the
leaves on the head, arms, and legs of the patient‟s body as she is expelling or
Usually during this ritual the patient sits in front of the rezador/rezadeira
shaman in an open space outside the shaman‟s house. When this ritual is performed
inside a house, the patient sits close to an open front or back door of the house. It is
considered dangerous for somebody to stand in the doorway when a patient is under a
reza because something evil that leaves the patient‟s body can “catch” (“pegar”)
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somebody on the way, where a “corrente de ar” (“air chain”)41 forms a breeze
through the door. This relates to the fact that “contamination” (“contaminação”) can
happen through the wind, which is a common way a person can “catch a disease”
One of the first steps that the rezador/rezadeira shaman takes is to ask the
patient‟s name, which will be mentioned several times throughout the reza ritual. The
shamanic specialist also asks about the symptoms that the patient is feeling, or what
caused the patient to seek the shaman‟s assistance. Depending on the symptoms that
the patient describes, the shamanic specialist will “make a cure” (“fazer uma cura”)
senses during the ritual. Thus, the reza ritual can vary in content. The shamanic
specialist “makes a cure,” performing the ritual on the whole patient‟s body where
something “evil” may be located and that “walks” inside the patient‟s body, which is
When the shamanic specialist mentions spiritual beings, they are ones whom he
or she contacts or worships. As I have not researched the religious aspects of the reza
ritual, I do not consider the saints, divine and spiritual beings contained in the ritual. I
beings when they mention entities from Catholicism (the Holy Trinity, saints) or from
the cosmological domain during reza rituals. Those approaches are part of the way the
41
The word corrente (chain) is also used to refer to spiritual beings who are
associated through chains.
42
There are among the Kariri-Shoco many cover terms which refer to the evil
domain, as I describe them during rituals.
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Kariri-Shoco deal with the spiritual world and spiritual beings evoked during the
The reza ritual is performed through several different spoken prayers jointly,
which are each repeated several times. Different parts of the body from the head to
the feet are mentioned during the reza, including abstract body parts like “memory.”
As a way to “attract” the evil from the patient‟s body, the shaman refers to health
problems that the evil may cause, which are mentioned when the shaman asks
spiritual beings to protect the patient (saying the patient‟s name). Those rituals are
very rich evidence of Kariri-Shoco concepts of health problems, and what provokes
them.
It is during reza ritual performance for evil eye that shamanic specialists
mention the patient‟s body (searching for and taking out the patient‟s sickness), they
sense what is causing the patient‟s suffering within their own body, and obtain
confirmation of whether the patient has been a victim of an evil eye or of an evil
spirit, causing the health problem. From my observations, the reza ritual is a way that
the patient receives from spiritual beings cure-healing. It is through the rezador or
rezadeira shaman that powerful words of the prayers and airs (soft blows) are a
through shamanic specialists‟ own bodies that they sense “evilness.” Through their
interaction with spiritual beings they experience a light trance and receive the power
to cure-heal.
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During an interview with Dona Maria Velha, when I asked a descriptive
question about the communication with spiritual beings during the reza ritual, she
explained:
“Behind the cure [reza ritual] the person who is curing has a body guard, who
comes already from our grandparents, from our parents. As you know we are
Indians, we live with our worship, we have to have our protector behind.”
Dona Maria Velha explained how she feels during the ritual, when she
describes how the words of the prayers work against the evil. If it is the case of an
evil spirit, she embodies it, feeling it on her own body. She told me how the
rezador/rezadeira experiences being under the vision (“eye”) of the evil spirit who is
“feeling” (“sentindo”) the effect of those words in the patient‟s health problem. I
“[I asked:] D. Maria Velha, when you „pray‟ [during a ritual], what do you feel?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] Look, when I pray, if that person is sick by a spirit, do you know?
Then, when it [the spirit] sees that the [words of] prayers are strong! That spirit can
be in trouble. He is feeling.”
“[I:] Do you feel it?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] I feel.”
“[I:] What do you feel?
“[D. Ma. Velha:] On my left side.”
“[I:] On your breast?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] On my arm. Then I feel that chill, you know? Feel that person like it
is there.”
“[I:] Is it like it is coming to you?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] It is!”
“[I:] Can this happen when you pray on a child, on an adult?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] Yes, it can, because I am making a cure on that person who comes.
Then, who is behind it, it is nothing good. Then he [the spirit] is thinking that those
God‟s words are bad on that creature [the patient] because [the words] are taking him
[the spirit] out. Then he is with the eye on the one who is curing. When it goes, I feel
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strong chill. I feel chills from what is bad, not from what is good. What is good does
not give chill to anyone. Then, if it is something that is not, if it is something that was
given by God, that crises [health problem] we‟re going to make the cure.”
Dona Maria Velha continues, explaining that there are different kinds of
“cures” (“curas”) that she makes for different parts of the body for different health
problems. She explains that the “cure” for the evil eye is the one that is done on the
patient‟s “whole” body. She also explains that sometimes one “reza [ritual] enters” on
another one, because of different health problems she finds on the patient. The
contents of the reza rituals follow the symptoms described by the patient and also
caused) and those diseases-illnesses provoked by “evil winds,” are also treated
through reza rituals. During this ethnographic interview, Dona Maria Velha also
mentioned that when the patient has symptoms such as “headache and pointed pain,”
she prays on the patient‟s head. If the symptom is “open arc or fallen spine,” she
prays on the patient‟s thorax. Those are health problems and symptoms that she treats
through different reza rituals, when “each cure is one cure, and sometimes one [reza]
gets inside another one.” Then she explained that the reza for evil eye, “it is on the
43
“Entruzidada caused” is considered chronic rheumatism, and it is usually
considered a “family” health problem, when other members of the same family also
have it.
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As an illustration of the reza for evil eye, I selected the one Kenedy performed
[herself]” and “sore throat.” Kenedy asked for her name and said that he would use it
during the ritual. He started silently, bending his head down, and with his eyes closed
for about twenty seconds before he began trembling his hand (holding three pinhão-
roxo leaves) towards the patient. They sat outside in front of the house, and Kenedy‟s
daughter was sitting on his lap during the whole ritual. The ritual lasted
(“graças”), and “powers” (“poderes”) from the “Holy Trinity” (“Father,” “Son,”
“Spirit Saint”) and from saints (which are considered indigenous by the Kariri-Shoco)
that he worships. Kenedy continued trembling the leaves towards the patient. After he
prayed spiritual beings for the patient‟s “cure” (“cura”) “protection” (“proteção”) and
different causes of evil eyes associated with “alive evil eyes” (“olhos maus vivos”)44
44
“Alive evil eyes” is evil eye caused by alive people.
45
“Dead evil eyes” is evil eye caused by spirits of dead people, for Kariri-
Shoco, only spirits from dead indigenous people may harm them.
46
“Evil eye” is something evil that is sent towards somebody through the
eyesight and through speech. It is usually conceived that it is unintentional.
47
“Quebranto” is a symptom of evil eye that makes the person become
without strength, and quebranto is also a cover term for evil eye.
48
“Thick eyes” are those from someone who envies another.
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From bad friends,
From left services49,
From magic, simpatia,”50
The following part varies according to what symptoms the patient describes to
the shamanic specialist and to what the shaman discovers in the patient. Kenedy
mentions different kind of pains and health problems, which can be located in
“…From headache, sharp pain, rheumatic pain, pain in the flesh, pain in the
bones, pain in the nerves,51 pain in the tutano, [marrow]52
…I beseech Thee to cure the liver, kidney, worms, indigestion, constipation,
open breast, barso, stomach, heart, aorta vein and the lungs.
All pains which are caused from sereno [dusk], cold, restia [shade], and
Pains that walk53,
Pains that persecute,54
Infernal pains,55
Pains from swelling,56 sharp pains,”57
The following part is spoken in all reza rituals, including the ones Silva (2002)
described, when the “sea” or “sacred sea” is the place where the rezador/rezadeira
49
“Left services” means everything which is related to the “demon” and evil
through witchcraft actions of someone.
50
“Simpatia” means a practice or the result of a light, not strong, witchcraft or
magic practice.
51
“Pain in the nerves” refers to how a person becomes nervous, worried, not
able to rest.
52
“Pain in the tutano” refers to a “dangerous disease that affect the bones,
when the fat (“tutato”) which is inside the bone dries and the person may become
paraplegic.”
53
“Pains that walk” are those pains which “run a person‟s body through the
blood” and cause pain. It is usually understood that they are caused by infection that
the blood carries all over the body and causes pains in different parts inside the body.
54
“Pains that persecute” are all those pains caused by “contamination from all
[those] evil airs,” “all air which is dominated by the fourteen modes of airs,” “with
spirits from any kind of disease caused by the airs that provoke disease.”
55
“Infernal pain” is a very strong and dangerous pain so that, if it is not cured,
the person may die.
56
“Pain from swelling” is when somebody hits or is hit by accident and a
specific part of the body is swollen.
57
“Sharp pain” is a pain described as “thin,” “pointed,” that “comes
eventually strong and sharp and goes away.”
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shaman sends all evil or evilness, which are associated with health problems. Pajé
Júlio explained that “nothing contaminates the sea,” and at the same time “the sea can
hold everything,” including evil. When Kenedy starts speaking the following prayer,
he makes different movements with his hand holding the leaves. He directs the leaves
towards the patient with movements from the patient‟s left and right shoulder to her
breast and then he makes a circular movement when he mentions, “Lock us up”
(“Nos trancai”).
purpose of the ritual which is to close the patient‟s body. It also reveals, since he is
saying, “us,” that both patient and shaman experience an „openness‟ and „closedness‟
of the body during the ritual. Thus, during the reza ritual the shamanic specialist
experiences an „openness‟ of his/her own body during the cure-healing when words
come out from his/her mouth and enters into the patient‟s body for cure-healing
purposes. This is the difference in how reza rituals are experienced by the Kariri-
Shoco and non-indigenous Catholics, when the experience of these latter ones relate
to the “blessing” they receive from prayers that the rezador/rezadeira shaman uses
In the following part Kenedy speaks prayers also used in all reza rituals, when
it refers to Virgin Mary‟s experiences (of conceiving Jesus and suffering with his
58
It was on Dona Maria Velha‟s explanation that I base this observation,
when she spontaneously told me in an ethnographic interview: “You know how those
Catholic white people think that the reza [ritual] is a blessing for them!” I realized
that this notion of “blessing” was also my own perception in the beginning of the
field research. Thus, it was from Dona Maria Velha‟s commentary that I began to be
more reflexive with my preobjective way of perceiving words of prayers and reza
rituals. I started to observe and to understand how this ritual is experienced by the
Kariri-Shoco within their own experiences and concepts of the body.
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death) used as metaphor through the following expressions: “three trembles” (“três
abalos”) and “three tightens” (“três arroxos”). Those words “trembles” and
“tightens” are associated with the impact of the words towards the patient (which are
interview, when I asked him verification questions about the reza rituals, he explained
that those words refer to what the person has received during the reza, according to
“everything that has been re-jointed [closed], which was not controlled, and [that]
through the reza [ritual] the person becomes recovered and protected [closed] from
anything evil.”
Kenedy proceeds to focusing on the evil eye as a possible cause for the
patient‟s health problem. He mentions again different parts of the body where an evil
eye may have been put on the patient from hair to legs, and also mentions the
possibility of evil eye on her relationships with relatives and neighbors, and on the
patient‟s belongings. From this moment of the reza ritual, Kenedy started to pray
Catholic prayers, like the Our Father and Hail Mary, and he prayed the Act of Faith
twice. The reza ritual continued with Kenedy asking to ward off evilness. This part is
“body,” and “blood” were mentioned. He also asked again for “grace,” “strength,”
and “power.”
In the following part of the reza ritual, Kenedy mentioned several different
kinds of “airs,” which cause diseases or health problems and that are very dangerous,
asking spiritual beings to cure the patient from those symptoms and diseases-
illnesses:
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… all bad airs that exist, and all evil,
I come to beseech Thee to cure from stroke,59 the cold air,60 the warm air,61
from the gota serena,62 from the air of tremble,63 from the yellow air,64 from
air of sinusitis,65 from air of epilepsy,66 and the air of fourteen modes.67
It was at this moment that both Kenedy and his patient opened their mouths
and yawned. It diagnoses an evil eye when both patient and rezador/rezadeira
eventually yawn. The yawning also relates to “airs” that come out of the body, when
something evil from the patient‟s body comes out. Thus, both Kenedy and his patient
experience embodiment through the bond between him and his patient during the
ritual. He absorbs the patient‟s evil eye, and expels it through his own yawning.
After he speaks to the patient about “divine forces,” which are from the
cosmos and spiritual beings, Kenedy again makes similar movements to those he had
done before, when he was holding the leaves towards the patient making an “X” from
each shoulder down to the patient‟s breast. This “X” sign, like also the cross sign,
express the closedness that is being performed on the patient‟s body during the ritual.
Then he passes the leaves from up to down on each arm and, after this, he gives a
strong shake down holding the leaves away from the patient (as he is putting
something out of the leaves after he passes them on the patient‟s arms). Then, he
59
“Stroke” is considered one of the diseases that are caught through the air.
60
“Cold air” is the air which provokes malaria.
61
“Warm air” is lighter than the “hot air,” which provokes hot flushes inside
the body.
62
“Gota serena” is considered something evil.
63
“Air of the tremble” is the same as “frighten airs,” which is a different wind
that the person can receive while walking and that causes a disease-illness.
64
“Yellow air” is the air that provokes yellow fever.
65
“Air of sinusitis” provokes sinusitis.
66
“Air of epilepsy” provokes convulsions and epilepsy.
67
“Air of fourteen modes” is explained as the spirit who “dominates” all evil
airs, which are the ones that provoke different kinds of diseases.
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makes the cross sign on the patient‟s forehead as he finishes the reza ritual after
After the ritual, I asked a descriptive question about the reza ritual and Kenedy
explained:
“The reza is always the same. In one part we don‟t reveal it totally. It depends
on the problem, but it also depends on the strength of the cure that I pray,
because when I pray I have to have that part more in silence, which is the part
that strengthens the reza more, which is the part of the secret [he was
explaining smiling] and without considering also the mind, what, what…”
At this moment, Kenedy made a gesture with his hand over his bent head, as if
showing that something which comes from above to inside his head, and continued
explaining:
“What is written from the heart to the mind, and that doesn‟t come out of the
mouth [because it is „part of the secret‟, which is silently]
While he was giving me this explanation, Kenedy pointed with his finger from
his heart to his head and directed it pointing out of his mouth, with a big and beautiful
smile on his face, and said, “It is like this.” I selected digital stills from this part of the
video footage to show how Kenedy‟s gesture entails a visual explanation. I consider
moment of silence. The moment of silence is experienced with airs that do not come
out of the mouth through spoken words that can be listened. I understand that the
silence relates to his communication and interaction with spirits for cure-healing
193
purposes, which is intrinsically characterized as indigenous therapeutics of cure-
These digital stills (ethnographic photos) above contain the images from his
gesture showing that something from above comes inside him. He moves his right
hand (the one where he holds the leaves during the reza) over his head, he points
down to his heart and directs it to his head and out from his mouth. I understand that
his explanation through his gestures was an amazing way that he described and
expressed his shamanic experience of cure-healing. I use those digital stills from this
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embodied experience of indigenous cure-healing therapeutic medical practice, when
From Kenedy‟s explanation, and from several other video footages recorded
of reza ritual performances, I observed how the reza ritual involves communication
experience, which involves “concentration” during the ritual, and particularly in the
moment of silence, is realized from something that comes from above his head. Pajé
Júlio confirmed this information about the moment of silence, which I mention after
describing a reza ritual performed by Dona Marieta. Before I describe Dona Marieta‟s
interview with Kenedy‟s patient after he performed the reza ritual described above.
I asked Kenedy‟s patient why she came for a reza. She answered that she was
having family problems, she was sick and, through Kenedy‟s help, she “has felt a lot
better.” I asked if she had taken any remedy and she answered, “Yes.” Kenedy‟s
patient told me that she had taken a “[bush] remedy” that Kennedy gave her. She
explained that for what she was feeling, “No „remedy of pharmacy‟ [medical
prescription] was providing any effect.” Then, I asked if she went to the medical
doctor from the Sementeira health clinic. She told me that she went there, but the
exam she had taken for the stomach was lost, and she never received the result. Then
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she described how she felt “a strong anger” and that an “iced” drink she drank had
I had already heard that for a dangerous health problem, it is good that the
patient goes under three different reza rituals. I found this moment a good opportunity
when the shamanic specialist “attracts” the patient‟s disease-illness away from the
patient. Kenedy explained how during this ritual, the shamanic specialist embodies
the patient‟s health problem by “attracting” it. Dona Maria Velha explained once that
she is very sensitive and feels “tired” (“cansada”) or “weaker”(“mais fraca”) after
reza rituals. Dona Marieta, as I will describe ahead, usually after she performed this
ritual would rest on her bed, although she mentioned that she always became
I recorded several video footages when Dona Marieta conducted reza rituals
on infants. I selected one of those video footages which show how a newborn child‟s
mother recognized that she was the one who put an evil eye on her nine day-old baby.
She was one of my case studies whom I code-named Julie. She brought her newborn
child, very concerned about her son‟s health. She explained that he had “diarrhea”
and his feces were “starting to become green.” Evil eye is considered dangerous for
newborns particularly because it “can pass to the intestines,” when it becomes life
threatening (it is said that “there is no cure”). Shamanic specialists explain that the
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reza ritual is performed on the “whole body” because “something evil walks inside
the body” of the person affected. When Julie arrived, she explained to Dona Marieta
Julie laid her baby on her lap after she sat down in front of Dona Marieta.
During most of the ritual performance the newborn child remained asleep. Dona
Marieta held three pinhão-roxo leaves, and started the reza ritual. The way Dona
Marieta performs the reza ritual demonstrates how powerful a shamanic specialist she
is because she does not use expressions that Kenedy did such as “beseech Thee” to
spiritual beings. She begins the ritual saying that with “the grace” and “the power” of
spiritual beings, she “asks” for the patient‟s “good cure,” “good memory,” and
Dona Marieta laughed because she named the little patient “Manoel” and Julie
also smiled. Then Dona Marieta continued the reza ritual mentioning several parts of
the patient‟s body and also possible relatives who could have “put” an evil eye on
him. There was a moment when Dona Marieta saw the shadow of somebody by the
door and said: “Get out of the door!” She was concerned that something evil coming
out from her little patient could catch a person by the door. It was at this moment that
Julie yawned and put her hand over her mouth. Dona Marieta proceeded with the reza
ritual making a circular movement with her hand that held the leaves and threw the
hand away from the newborn after she mentioned the word “quebranto.” Dona
Marieta continued the ritual using Catholic prayers, like “Our Father” and “Hail
Mary.” Julie continues to yawn eventually, which is a sign, as Dona Marieta told me
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after the ritual, that an evil eye had been put on the patient.68 She proceeded and
repeated three times the following prayer‟s verse, where three different health
problems related to the digestive system (“fallen belly,”69 “leaked gall,”70 and “turned
intestine”71) were mentioned, and she “scared [them] away” through “forces” from
three different kinds of liquids like “water” (from a “saint” river), and female bodily
liquids such as “milk” and “blood” from spiritual beings.72 This verse was then
repeated twice, with a slight change: instead of “scare away,” Dona Marieta told the
three digestive health problems to “search” their place. This is particularly related to
how those health problems are considered a displacement of something inside the
patient‟s body. In this next part Dona Marieta asked a spiritual being to “show”
“health” and “memory” for her, the patient‟s “belly.” The newborn yawned when she
The following part of the reza is very similar to the one from the beginning of
the ritual, where possible places of the patient‟s body could have been affected by the
evil eye, and also possible relatives who could have put it on the patient are
mentioned. In the end of this part of the ritual, Dona Marieta spoke silently, just
68
This is particularly interesting because it reveals how the embodied bond
between mother and infant is experienced, when through the mother‟s yawning the
evil eye comes out of the newborn.
69
„Fallen belly‟ [ventre caido] is a health problem that usually happens to a
baby. It is caused when somebody who holds the baby suddenly changes the baby‟s
position. This move may cause something in the baby‟s belly, which harms the baby
and causes digestive malfunction.
70
Leaked gall [„fel derramado] is considered to occur when gall is leaked
inside the body,” which causes pain and vomiting. It is mentioned that it usually
happens with a baby.
71
‘Turned intestine‟ [„intestino virado] is when the person has constipation
and may vomit, feel nausea, and have indigestion.
72
Male shamanic specialists do not mention when they perform reza rituals
those female bodily fluids (blood, milk).
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moving her mouth. Then different parts of the body, qualities of the newborn
(“beauty,” “expertise,” “knowledge”), and the emotion of “well loving,” that an evil
“…If evil eye was put on your hair, on your head, on your forehead, on your
eyebrow, on your eyes, on your nose, on your mouth, on your face, on your
neck, on your breast, on your belly, on your arms, on your legs, on your feet,
on your size, on your beauty, on your expertise, on your knowledge, on your
well loving, on your food…”
Dona Marieta made the same circular movement with her hand while she held
leaves and threw her hand away from the newborn child after she mentioned
“quebranto.” Right after this gesture she said, “Saint hours,” and she whispered for
about nine seconds towards her little patient. I could not understand or hear what she
was saying. It was a silent moment. Then after she mentioned “Spirit Saint,” Dona
Marieta spoke silently, only moving her mouth for five seconds, as she was blowing
softly. Once more, Dona Marieta prayed Our Father and three times Hail Mary. Then
Dona Marieta evoked several spiritual beings, who are mostly related to the cosmos
as holy entities in the sky, in order to “announce” the patient‟s “health,” “memory,”
and “defense.”
After this previous sentence, Dona Marieta spoke in very low voice for three
seconds and then she prayed Hail Mary again three times.73 When she began this
Catholic prayer for the second time, she yawned. At the end of the third Hail Mary,
the newborn coughed and was startled. Then, Dona Marieta again spoke silently, but
this time it lasted for nineteen seconds. She continued whispering by only moving her
73 I
It is interesting because the way Dona Marieta prays Hail Mary is different
from the way it is prayed by Catholics. One example that called my attention is that
instead of praying “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is among us” like Catholics
pray, she says “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is the comfort.”
199
mouth toward the patient, moving the leaves over the patient‟s body in four different
directions. She also made movements, bending her head as she silently whispered
After the ritual, Dona Marieta made a very spontaneous comment at the end of
this conversation about the “last words” that she “had put in” the newborn. I
immediately asked what words she said, and both Dona Marieta and Julie did not give
At this moment, they remained in silence and both were smiling. Julie looked
at her baby and put her hand over his head. I understood that “the words” which Dona
silently whispering, words and airs of powers, when they “put” them in the patient
(experiencing light trances during this ritual). I talked to Pajé Júlio about this moment
of silence during reza rituals, when the shaman bends his/her head, which I had
observed. Pajé Júlio agreed that it involves a light trance when, according to him,
is the moment that shamanic specialists have to “concentrate to receive what he[/she]
is asking [for spiritual beings] to make the cure [extracting the evil].” Paje Julio also
told me that they ask for spiritual beings by a “communication through the heart.”
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This is exactly the same explanation given by Kenedy, which I have described
describe how her sons, Candara and Mr. Zeca, conducted a reza ritual on her. My
description starts on the morning she had a stroke. I also describe how biomedical
illustrates how her health problem related to both biomedical and indigenous
It was in the morning of October 19 that Dona Marieta went with her twelve-
year-old great-grandson to the open market in Porto Real do Colegio town. After she
ate a mango fruit there, she felt nausea and laid down by a sidewalk already
home and told me that Dona Marieta was in Porto Real do Colegio health clinic very
sick. I immediately went to see her, and found her with her right side paralyzed and
unconscious.
Porto Real do Colegio municipal health clinic has regular office hours for
appointments with doctors and also has rooms for emergency cases, where Dona
Marieta was. The medical doctor came and told Tarcisia and Tanira, who were beside
Dona Marieta, that she would be transferred to the hospital in Penedo, where
adequate assistance would be provided. He also told them that according to her
symptoms she had “a brain vascular accident” (in Portuguese it is called Acidente
Vascular Cerebral-AVC) and that she was already “under medication.” The medical
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doctor also said that they were waiting for the ambulance to arrive to take her to the
hospital in Penedo.
In that afternoon, Tanira went to the hospital with Dona Marieta in the
ambulance, while I brought Tarcisia back home where we found members of her
family, including her brother, Mr. Zeca, waiting to hear about Dona Marieta. They
were all very concerned with the health problem that affected Dona Marieta. Tarcisia
mentioned that the mango fruit that Dona Marieta had eaten in the morning at the
market was “probably hot” (“quente” from the sun) and could have provoked that
problem. Mr. Zeca replied that the “air” was the principal cause for problems like
Dona Marieta had. I observed that several neurological and other kinds of diseases-
illnesses were associated and caused by the “air,” such as “stroke,” “epilepsy,”
According to Pajé Júlio, the health problem that caused Dona Marieta to
become severely ill was caused by an “evil spirit” related to the “air of parnar,”
which was sent by “the air of fourteen modes.” Dona Marieta‟s “air of parnar”
disease-illness, which the Kariri-Shoco also call “stroke,” is one of “the air of seven
modes” that has to be “urgently” treated “with smudges and prayers” before “seven
days.” The health problem that Dona Marieta experienced is conceived as an “evil
74
Health problems caused by “disease of airs” are described and discussed in
the next section. I registered once when Hilda, a woman case study, brought her
sister-in-law who had been affected by a facial paralysis to Candara‟s health
assistance. He performed a reza ritual and made a “bottle remedy” for three days
treatment for his patient. This woman completely recovered from her facial paralysis
fifteen days after her treatment.
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spirit related cause.” Pajé Júlio confirmed that it is an “Indian‟s disease.”75 When I
asked him a verification question about what the word “parnar” means, he told me
that he could not explain because it is a word from the indigenous “idioma” (idiom),
which means part of their secret language. Thus, “air of parnar” is a disease-illness
conceived as caused by a dangerous evil of wind that the Kariri-Shoco have medical
knowledge to treat.
Mr. Zeca was concerned that Dona Marieta could die at the hospital. He told
Tarcisia that he would await Candara‟s return from his trip to talk to him about the
possibility of bringing Dona Marieta back home. It was a Friday, when Dona Marieta
was sent to the hospital, and Candara was coming back on Sunday. I offered Mr. Zeca
to take them to the hospital whenever they wanted to visit Dona Marieta. He arranged
The encounter of Dona Marieta‟s sons with her at the hospital was very
touching. Candara prayed without any leaves in his hand, while tears dropped from
his eyes. During the reza ritual she started to open her eyes a little bit and also moved
her left arm. While Candara was praying, Mr. Zeca talked to her saying, “Mother, we
are here! It‟s your son Zeca! And Candara! We are here!” Mr. Zeca, during Candara‟s
reza ritual, also performed cure-healing practices. Dona Marieta moved herself
75
I explain and discuss in the next section Kariri-Shoco notions of “Indian‟s
disease” and “white man‟s disease.”
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Both Tanira and Tanilde were taking care of their grandmother very kindly.
Tanilde had brought “bush remedies,” which she put under Dona Marieta‟s pillow,
and placed close to Dona Marieta‟s nose, allowing her to smell the scent. Tanilde
explained to her uncles that Dona Marieta had opened her eyes on the day before and
that she was not moving her right side. This was understood as a good sign, since it is
considered that it is on the left side where evil harms a person dangerously. Tanilde
also told them that, in the morning, after Dona Marieta had pulled the sheet and
moved, they felt a strong scent of batata-de-cheiro plant and that it happened twice. I
asked if the smell was exhaling from Dona Marieta, Tanilde explained, “Yes, it was
all over the room!” I understood that batata-de-cheiro was a very special plant for
them.
Candara performed the reza ritual speaking very low, almost whispering. I
describe here some parts that I heard when he said, “I ask for our Lord to cure Maria
de Lourdes [Dona Marieta‟s real name] from evil eye, from usury, from quebranto…
and body organs, “fallen spine, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, sciatic pain,
constipation, open breast, stomach, heart, and aorta…” He bent his head and with his
from Dona Marieta‟s body. While Candara was praying, Mr. Zeca was touching her
body, her arms, and her legs. He put his mouth on Dona Marieta‟s left ear, as if he
were sucking something out, which he expelled, blowing out strongly. This same
procedure he made with her right ear. I had never seen this cure-healing therapeutic
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Dona Marieta, asking if she was with “quentura” (hot flush), and told her again that
they were there. Candara also prayed Our Father and Hail Mary, while he was with
After the ritual performance, Candara walked towards the door wiping tears
from his eyes. Mr. Zeca sat Dona Marieta on the bed and talked to her. Tanilde also
helped him, while Tanira turned the hospital bed up to make Dona Marieta more
comfortable. The medical doctor came and talked to Candara and Mr. Zeca. He
explained about her health condition, that he was keeping her blood pressure under
control, and that she was “medicalizada” (“medicalized,” meaning under medical
prescription). Candara and Mr. Zeca explained to the doctor their intention to bring
Dona Marieta back home. The doctor told them that she could die at any moment.
Candara then explained to the doctor about his knowledge, and his experience as a
man who understands about remedies. After the medical doctor had examined Dona
Marieta‟s belly, he mentioned: “You have to be prepared for this, she can die
suddenly. She is under medication and the blood pressure has dropped.” Candara
explained to him:
“All remedies are medicinal. I was traveling when my mother became in this
situation. I was traveling helping persons. Because I know remedies, doctor,
that are in a way that when the person has to die, I pass the remedy, then [the
person] ends up dying there. When [the person] is to become well, it is only a
matter of keeping the „resguardo‟ [health care].76 They are remedies from my
head, given by God. I work very hard not only with this sickness, but also with
several sicknesses. Now you know that there are many sicknesses that need
surgery. Now there are many sicknesses that you sirs make surgery, and I with
76
Resguardo is a term also related to what I have translated as confinement,
which is the period post-delivery women go under certain health care practices, which
I describe in the next chapter. Candara uses this word referring to the period of
necessary care (food, activities, etc.) for the success of treatment.
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my plants‟ treatment, it is not necessary surgery, I treat. You forgive me, but
that is what I explain to you, sir.”
It is interesting that Candara tried to explain to the medical doctor the different
nature of indigenous remedies, from which the effect of the remedy is determined by
the remedy itself. When Candara gives the explanation above to the doctor, he is
telling the medical doctor that after he gives the remedy to the patient the remedy will
provoke the patient‟s death if it is meant to happen. On the other hand, if it is meant
for the patient to recover, the remedy will provide to the patient a healthy recovery.
This perception that Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists have with “bush remedies”
effect relates to the effect that each remedy has accordingly to the owner of the
The doctor‟s position was very emphatic on Dona Marieta‟s severe sickness
and the limitation of biomedical assistance to treat her case, considering her advanced
age. That is the principal reason that he agreed and respected Dona Marieta‟s sons‟
will to bring her back home. After the medical doctor left, they arranged that Dona
Marieta would stay at Tarcisia‟s house, where both Tanira and Tanilde could give
assistance to Dona Marieta, helping Tarcisia to take care of her. Dona Marieta was
When Dona Marieta arrived at home, Candara performed a reza ritual and he
prescribed “bush remedies” for her treatment. Tarcisia prepared a remedy mixing
mastruz and pau-ferro plants with milk, and told me that it was for Dona Marieta to
become stronger and also for pain. Dona Marieta was brought to the reserve only with
the intravenous “soro” medication and the medical prescription from the hospital
doctor (where five different drugs were prescribed). One of the nurse assistants,
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Elizabeth (the non-indigenous nurse assistant) came to take Dona Marieta‟s blood
pressure and to provide drug for high blood pressure, which she had available in the
health clinic pharmacy. The hospital medical doctor‟s prescription was handed to one
of health agents, who billed medical prescriptions, although he still had to wait for the
Sementeira medical doctor‟s arrival, because she was the only one who could request
At night Vana (Dona Marieta‟s granddaughter) came to help Tarcisia and also
prayed and sang Catholic prayers and chants in Dona Marieta‟s bedroom. Tarcisia
told me early that they needed alligator‟s skin to make the remedy. I went to Propria‟s
open market where I bought it, and gave it to Tarcisia for Dona Marieta‟s remedy.
This remedy was prepared on a clay plate, with different mixed medicinal plants and
alligator‟s skin. A big flame was made in the bedroom when Vana burned the remedy
on the clay plate. The smoke covered Dona Marieta‟s bedroom. Kenedy, who came to
see his grandmother, explained to me that if Dona Marieta did not die in the next few
days, she would “survive longer from her disease.” Several relatives and friends came
that night to see Dona Marieta, and several grandchildren gathered and stayed up until
late at night outside, where they made a fire and stayed chatting. Erismo and Vana
Next day, Candara arrived in late afternoon to perform a reza ritual on Dona
Marieta. He told me that he thought that if Dona Marieta “had stayed at the hospital,
she would have already been dead.” Then he explained about his responsibility as the
oldest son:
“She would feel so much [if left in the hospital]. It would be risky for me,
because I am her oldest son. She would come to complain [after dead] to me.”
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Tarcisia talked to Candara about the possibility of bringing Dona Marieta to
the Ouricuri ritual, which would start on Saturday. They were sure that Dona Marieta
would want to attend, since she never missed them. Their concern was how to bring
her without a car. They planned to ask the medical doctor for authorization to use the
ambulance for that purpose. I asked Candara if it would not be risky to Dona Marieta
be taken to the Ouricuri, considering her health condition. Candara answered: “No,
she is more protected there, two or three times more protected than here.” Candara
also explained how the smudge treatment of medicinal plants and alligator‟s skin,
which he told to Tarcisia how to use, would determine if Dona Marieta would survive
from this “crisis.” He explained that “if she doesn‟t die during these three and four
more days after the treatment,” then they would be sure that “she will live longer.” He
mentioned that “rattlesnake‟s skin” was “also a good remedy,” but he did not have it
available there, only far in the Sertão (Northeast drought region) could it be found.
About a month after her stroke, Dona Marieta was only taking one
pharmaceutical drug, which was prescribed to control her blood pressure. Tarcisia
continued to regularly give her medicinal plants mixed with milk, or different kinds
of teas, which should make Dona Marieta “stronger.” Also, regularly Dona Marieta
was bathed with medicinal plants. She was also given different teas made of
medicinal plants.
Dona Marieta was brought to several other Ouricuri rituals, where she died on
January 16, 2002 during the biggest Ouricuri ritual celebration. Kariri-Shoco people
consider that to be born or to die in the Ouricuri village during rituals is a blessing for
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the person. Whenever a Kariri-Shoco person dies, the next Ouricuri ritual can only
happen at least one month later. Only when someone dies in Ouricuri rituals, they
continue the ritual while family members bring the deceased body to be buried in
moving her right side of the body. Baioca told me, “She is going away.” Dona Maria
Velha commented, “The stroke affected her right side and her arm that she used to
pray!” For Dona Maria Velha this was a sign of how a rezadeira/rezador shaman can
others. Tacinha (Dona Marieta‟s granddaughter) told me how before Dona Marieta‟s
disease happened, she was “like „se despedindo’ [saying goodbye] to everybody,”
when in the previous Ouricuri ritual she danced Toré77 and was “happy, talking to
everybody.” Tarcisia suffered very much with Dona Marieta‟s health problem. She
was devastated and concerned with Dona Marieta‟s possible death, when all her
Dona Marieta‟s children and grandchildren took very good care of her during
her convalescence, giving nutritious liquid-creamy food in her mouth and keeping her
clean. Each time I went to see Dona Marieta, I noticed that several indigenous and
non-indigenous people were coming to visit her, when very often I heard people say
to Tarcisia: “May God give Dona Marieta health!” I continued to visit her regularly. I
understood why her family wanted her close to them. It was fundamental the
77
Toré is an indigenous ritualistic dance very common among northeastern
indigenous people, when they sing and celebrate festivities.
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protection and cure-healing practices that Dona Marieta received through indigenous
shamanistic treatments.
causes are mentioned. The indication of health problems and their causes during the
reza ritual depends on the patient‟s symptom descriptions and on the shamanic
specialist‟s focus. Several kinds of “airs,” like in the reza ritual performed by Kenedy
and in the one performed by Candara on his mother, were mentioned. This reveals
their perception of the air or wind as a channel for “contaminations,” which is one of
the most common and dangerous ways the Kariri-Shoco conceive that diseases-
perspective, of how she caught a health problem through the “air of parnar.” It
illustrates how this contamination damages “the matter” (substance), breaking the
body, which may be paralyzed and absent. That is how the Kariri-Shoco conceive the
shamanistic cure, which he observes is frequently efficient, is when “[t]he sick organ
aims at extracting the cause of the illness” (Lévi-Strauss (1963, 191), which is a
method often found in tropical America, Australia, and Alaska. He also gives the
example of the Navaho, where shamans “may recite incantations and prescribe
actions” (Lévi-Strauss 1963, 191). Lévi-Strauss (1963) explains that the efficiency of
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this therapeutic method is difficult to interpret, but he attributes the “psychological
mediation,” particularly when the ritual is very abstract and the body is neither
touched nor a remedy is prescribed, from which the song (like in the Navaho case)
“constitutes a psychological manipulation of the sick organ,” and that “it is precisely
exemplified by the Navaho case of the use of song, expresses and alters
psychologically (mind) the patient‟s experience and perception with the body. As my
senses (Laderman and Roseman 1996). Therefore, the manipulation of the sick
and established with her sons, since she moved herself, she reacted to words of
powers (Candara‟s ritual performance) and touches and suctions (Mr. Zeca‟s ritual
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Thus, the disease-illness which Dona Marieta experienced belongs to the
“Indian‟s disease” domain. The fact that it is recognized by the biomedical domain of
knowledge and practice, as stroke, provided the legitimization for the biomedical
knowledge and practice to deal with her disease-illness. It is part of their indigenous
medical knowledge. Actually, the fact that she was diagnosed as a terminal patient,
when the medical doctor emphasized several times her imminent death, and that she
lived more than three months, demonstrates the effectiveness of Kariri-Shoco medical
knowledge and practice. In the following part, I describe a reza ritual performed by
Before describing the “open arcs” cure-healing ritual that Dona Maria Velha
verification questions about which was the most difficult case she found on the
previous day, when she had traveled to the country (of Porto Real do Colegio County)
to perform reza rituals. She gave me details about what she felt after spending a
whole day “making cures” (performing reza rituals) in the country for non-indigenous
people, and what she receives as payment and why she charges when she performs a
78
“Open arcs” is a health problem related to the thorax where the patient feels
pain and is associated with others such as “open breast” and or “fallen spine.” I give
details about those health problems below.
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“[I asked:] Dona Maria Velha, which was the most difficult case that you found
yesterday?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] The most difficult case that I felt was the one in the last house I
prayed. I found a lady, who is a woman older than me, and she told me: „Oh, it was
good that you appeared. I live so sick!‟ She suffers this business of high blood
pressure and also from nerves. The nerves attack her and even throw her down. She
sometimes stays like losing her speech. Then I said: „I‟m here, Dona Nazaré! I
arrived!‟ She told me that she wanted me to pray on her. Before, I had already prayed
on a woman who had a swollen knee, rheumatism, where I also had measured her
husband here [she shows and points to both shoulders], because all cures that I make,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and [she said spiritual name that I did not
understand and continues:] … on my ritual, I don‟t charge anything, I receive those
gifts from whoever wants to give me. But only this here [pointing to her shoulders] on
the „arcs,‟ from „fallen spine‟ and „open arcs‟ when the breast is open, only for this
one I charge! Because when I am closing those open breasts with the reza, mine are
opening! Now for this, anything has to be given to me. The best is „alive eyes!‟”
“[I:] How, „alive eyes‟?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] An „alive eyes‟ is a little chick, it is a chicken… But if it‟s not,
because not everybody has [„alive eyes‟] to give, then some give me two reais
[Brazilian money], another gives me rice, one kilo of beans, like this, do you know?”
“[I:] Yes, I understand.”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] It is not a great quantity of money, like those smart ones receive! I
don‟t want to be smart! There‟s nobody smart! God is the only wise one! What we
know is to make a little defense on the Eternal Father‟s name!”
Dona Maria Velha starts the reza ritual for “open arcs,” in two phases, by
checking if the diagnosis is correct. First, she uses a white cloth to measure and
compare different distances of the patient‟s body parts. She measures the size of the
patient‟s forearm to his hand (when the patient bends his arm, showing his forearm
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Digital Stills 2: Dona Maria Velha Measuring a Patient‟s Shoulder
After, she takes the cloth on which she marked the previous measurement, and
she puts the cloth on the patient‟s chest from left to right shoulder to see if the
previous measure matches the distance between the patient‟s shoulders. She found out
that the measurement from the forearm to hand was “four fingers” longer than the
measure between the patient‟s shoulders. This shows that the patient is with “open
arcs.”
Then, she starts to take other measurements with the cloth, for comparison, in
the same way. This time she compares the distance between the patient‟s elbows
(while the patient has both arms straight open), with the measurement obtained from
the patient‟s breast size (by putting the cloth around the patient‟s breast). She found
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that the cloth measure obtained from elbow-to-elbow is smaller than the patient‟s
breast size.
The measurements that do not match give evidence that the patient is suffering
from a dangerous health problem, since his “breast is open.” That is why the patient
complains about breast pain, and that he is not feeling well. Because it is a sign that
the body is open through the “open arcs” or breast, the patient is vulnerable to catch
diseases-illnesses, and is more vulnerable to evil spirits which can enter inside his
Dona Maria Velha shows me the different sizes she measured, and starts the
reza by putting the cloth around the patient‟s breasts. She strongly twists the cloth and
holds it. She tightens the cloth by holding it, placed around the patient‟s breast.
Then she starts the ritual by making the Catholic cross sign and silently bends
her head with her hand open, which reminded me of the same move Kenedy had done
215
Digital Stills 5: Cross Sign and Bending Head
During the whole reza ritual for “open arcs,” the rezador/rezadeira shaman
focuses on the patient‟s thorax. I selected a few examples to show how Dona Maria
which is when her “arcs” also open during the reza. She begins with “concentration.”
Then she prays, making a cross sign on the patient‟s breast, asking for
spiritual beings:
“To be raised up [She twists the cloth tighter and pulls it up]
Taken out,
And suspend it up
Open Arcs,‟ fallen spine, leaked gall,
…Raised up! [she makes a movement as she twists even more tightly the cloth
on the patient‟s breast]
Raise up arc!
Close up spine! [She twists tidily the cloth]
In the name of God Father, God Son and God Spirit Saint”
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During the ritual she makes the cross sign several times and also X signs with
her thumb on the patient‟s breast (and later on his back) over and under the cloth.
Sometimes she makes this X sign on his right and left arms close to his shoulder. It is
in the following part of the ritual, when she mentions again health problems related to
“open arcs,” and different kinds of pain, and other problems, that she demands the
This is the moment when she uses her strength during the ritual, when she
“In the name of God Father, God Son, and God Spirit Saint!
…Open Arcs,‟ fallen spine, leaked gall, rheumatic pain, sciatic pain,79 pain on
the column, entruzidada caused,80 blood
And your Sun Divine Sun will raise up, [She twists more tightly the cloth]
With the three trembles,
With the three tights…”
Then she stops the reza when she goes to pray on the patient‟s back. She
unties the cloth and places it around the patient by holding it at his back. She follows
the same procedure as she did before; she pulls the cloth in opposite directions,
making twisting movements on the cloth to tighten it, while she keeps holding it to
continue the ritual. She makes cross signs on the patient‟s back. She looks at me and
says: “Look, do you want to see? One word I am going to ask him: „[While she pulls
79
“Sciatic pain” is a pain that the person feels suddenly, without any reason.
80
See footnote n. 55 for “Entruzidada caused.”
217
the cloth in opposite directions she asks him:] „Adelson, does it go good?‟” He
answers: “It goes!” And she tells me: „“Do you see?” I said, “Yes,” as I understood
that she showed me that he was already feeling better, that it did not hurt like when
she began the ritual. Then she laughs and continues the reza using basically the same
verses but with some changes. This part was longer than the previous one.
It is in the beginning, when she starts saying the prayers on the patient‟s back
that Dona Maria Velha coughs and speaks with difficulty. It is at this moment that I
think her “arcs” are opening; since the way she tries to speak is similar to the way she
had described one day about when a person has “open breasts.” She also has an
expression on her face that indicates that she is feeling something different, as she
In the following part of this reza ritual, Dona Maria Velha spoke very quickly,
and so it was not possible to understand the words she said about spiritual beings
81
“Novelo white” is considered the thread that is used (through the white
cloth) to tight the patient‟s breast.
82
By mentioning “wood from my Ouricuri” she refers to a sacred tree located
at the Ouricuri village.
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The three hit of the maraca,83
… Stand up!
Open arc, fallen spine, leaked gall, go to the waves from the sea!”
After Dona Maria Velha twists tightly and pulls the white cloth, which she
holds on the patient‟s breast, she finishes this part of the reza and she unties the cloth
and pulls different ends in opposite directions and twists it again very tight to pull it
up. She repeats the health problems related to the patient‟s symptoms and demands
again at the end of the ritual that the patient‟s breast to “raise up,” “close up,” and
“lock up”:
Then Dona Maria Velha unties the cloth and continues standing by the
patient‟s back. She puts her hand on his breast, where she makes cross signs on his
chest, and prays Our Father, Hail Mary, and then she prays Hail Queen, mentioning
his name on the end of the Catholic prayers, and she asks to see Adelson‟s “health,”
After the ritual I asked Mr. Adelson if he was feeling better. He smiled and
said, “Yes.” Then I told him: “It is very good when a person is feeling something and
I started to talk to Dona Maria Velha, who I noticed was tired as she said: “My
83
By mentioning “the three hit of the maraca,” she is fortifying the patient‟s
heart.
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“[D. Ma. Velha:] It is, with open arc the service is big.”
“[I:] It is good because it really closes.”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] It does, but while I am closing his arcs, mine are opening.”
“[I:] Do you feel?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] Yes, I feel. Because I make a nod and have to suspend! When it is
too fallen I tell to sit on a chair. With one like his I still pray with him standing. But if
it is very fallen, when the body is more fallen, I pray on a chair [the patient sits on a
chair]. Because he won‟t stand the tight that hurts, then I will fall on him [she
laughs]!”
“[I:] When is it too fallen?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] When it is too open. We can see from the measurements. Then I put
that strength [to tie up and suspend it] I go to take it snoring [because the person with
a too fallen spine make a sound like he/she is snoring]! Because the wind passes here!
[She points and shows between her breasts]. What puts on the reza is this: the flesh!”
From those explanations, I understood how this kind of reza ritual involves
embodiment, which, as Dona Maria Velha explained, while she is closing the
patient‟s breast, she is opening her breast. She evokes spiritual beings during the
ritual, and although there is a moment of silence at the beginning, I did not notice any
other moment that could suggest a trance. From my observation, and based on her
explanation above, this ritual, which is performed for a specific health problem
related to the thorax‟s dislocation, has the purpose of making the patient‟s body,
which is with “open breast,” close. The is why the shamanic specialist demands to
“raise up” and “suspend” “arcs,” and, to “close up spine,” in order for “flesh” to be
“put” on the patient‟s thorax through the reza ritual. Thus, the patient‟s breast
becomes closed and completed with “flesh.” Several indigenous sacred and secret
elements are used in this cure-healing ritual (as tree, maraca, and so on) for the
Once I asked to Dona Maria Velha if the way to take measurements for
women who are with “open arcs” is the same. She told me that it is the same, but if
the woman is breastfeeding her breasts are bigger than usual, thus the measurement is
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taken under her breasts. Then I asked, “how are the breasts open?” She told me that it
could happen at any time when the person moves, for example, laying down in bed
sleeping at night, “stretching the body in a certain way that makes the breasts open.”
Then I asked about the symptoms. She said that usually “the person feels a „pulsing
pain on the breasts‟ or on the back,” “weakness on the legs,” and also when the
person “wants to talk, opens the mouth but stops [she showed a gesture] because of
difficulties for speaking.” She also explained that the reza is done “on both sides [of
the body: front and back]” to “cover‟ (“tampar”), to “complete” the thorax.
It was with Candara that I had the opportunity to observe a more complex
cure-healing ritual called “mesa” (“table”), which is performed on a patient with the
called mestre (“master”), is the one who opens the event and “maintains control” over
patients. I would not be allowed to observe when these rituals were performed on
indigenous patients because it involves their secret shamanic practices. During this
kind of cure-healing ritual, I could only audio record. I was only allowed to record
video images of the setting where it was performed, before and after the ritual
performance.
rezador/rezadeira shaman finds out that the patient has a more serious problem, such
as spirit related cause, and a mesa ritual can be arranged for the patient. All mesa
cure-healing rituals that I watched were opened by Kenedy, while his father Candara
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assisted from outside the mesa mat. Kenedy was directly in communication with the
patient and spirits that enter, or are inside, the patient‟s body. Four other persons, two
“table sitters” actively participate, singing and working with the patient‟s body.
Although I had not seen Kenedy drinking the Jurema remedy, he told me that
he had drunk it when I asked him before the ritual. The patient also drinks the Jurema
remedy, which is the remedy that, in the case of spirit-caused disease-illness, brings
out the spirit who is afflicting the patient, makes the spirit identify itself, and reveals
who sent it to the patient. I observed that it was considered that not exactly the patient
spoke with the shaman whenever an evil spirit was brought out, but the spirit itself
Dona Maria Velha described an experience she had when participating in one
of these mesa rituals as a madrinha (godmother). She told me that all who take part in
this ritual must have a “cleansed body,” which means that “all of them have to be
with the body closed,” principally “without having had sexual intercourse for at least
three days before this ritual.” All other shamanic specialists who perform these
rituals, and whom I have interviewed, also gave this same explanation. Dona Maria
Velha said that she told her brother-in-law, who also participated as one of the
“godfathers,” that “no spirit would come even close” to her, that “it would pass by his
side.” Thus, during the ritual, her brother-in-law “felt the spirit first in his arm, after
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During the mesa ritual sacred songs are sung, evoking the healing through the
“Masters” (“Mestres”), who are mentioned through the songs. Similar to the reza
cure-healing ritual, the purpose is to discover who or what is causing the suffering, in
order to cure-heal the patient by closing the person‟s body. Candara explained that it
is in the mesa, not in the reza ritual, that the person‟s body is effectively “closed,”
since it is through this ritual that an evil spirit can be exorcised from the patient‟s
body. Thus, the mesa is considered a stronger therapeutic cure-healing ritual. The
ritual has the objective to close the person‟s body, and it can eventually lead to an
exorcism when it is a case of spirit possession. I will describe Monica‟s case in detail,
On the Friday of Monica‟s mesa ritual, I met Dona Marieta walking by the
Candara‟s house, I asked her if she wanted to come with me to watch Monica‟s mesa
ritual. She was happy that I invited her, and we arrived together at Candara‟s house
before Monica arrived. I was glad to bring Dona Marieta because I knew that she
would enjoy being present at Monica‟s mesa ritual, since Dona Marieta had prayed on
Monica two days before and discovered that she suffered from an evil spirit health
problem. It was also an opportunity to observe Dona Marieta‟s reaction during this
kind of ritual. Dona Marieta was the one who sent Monica to Candara, when then he
performed a reza ritual and prescribed the mesa because of the nature of Monica‟s
health problem.
The mesa ritual took place inside the living room of Candara‟s unfinished
house. The last scene that I video-recorded shows Monica sitting on a mat with
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remedies, candles, plants, and sacred objects to be used during the ritual. When we
were all there, Candara asked everybody to “hold on God,” asking for goodness in
order to help Monica‟s healing. Kenedy explained that he does not “focus on the
body.” He says, “I aim the closedness of the matter [matéria].” The word “matter” is
often used among the Kariri-Shoco to refer to the concrete material substance of
living things that have spiritual life, such as human beings, plants, animals, and the
necessary state of recovery and protection for the substance of her body.
because Candara and Kenedy asked me to keep the recordings of the ritual to myself.
They gave me consent, though, to describe the ritual. Thus, it involves elements of
their shamanistic secrets that they do not wish to divulge. I would not be allowed (as
treated. Thus, I have decided to describe only information about procedures and
After all four “table sitters” took their places (two on each side) on the mat
and each couple was sitting on different sides, facing each other, Kenedy started the
ritual by bending his head with his eyes closed, as he was having a moment of
silence. The “table sitters” were Candara‟s sons, daughter, and a daughter-in-law.
They start to sing a beautiful song, which evokes and calls spiritual beings. Another
song mentions the sun and tells that a spiritual being is arriving. The following song
evokes a female spiritual being. Several times they sang, using expressions such as
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Those chants remind me of some Pankararu‟s songs, which I heard several years ago.
Most of the songs are sung three times during the ritual.
Inside the room, where the ritual was performed, about twenty people were
watching, sitting on chairs around the “table” mat (where Monica, the table sitters,
and even non-indigenous people who live close to the reserve were present. I
observed that most of the children sang the songs and were enjoying watching the
ritual. I sat close to Dona Marieta, and could observe that she made the cross-sign as
the ritual began. She sang all of the songs during the ritual and kept trembling her
hand, as though she was holding and shaking a maraca with her right hand.
All “table sitters” held a thin branch of leaves, while they were singing during
the ritual. Each “table sitter” held a white candle, which was lit and re-lit three times
over parts of Monica‟s body during part of the ritual when they close her body.
Candara was the shamanic specialist who was outside the “table” mat and coordinated
the ritual, moving close to Monica whenever his assistance was necessary.
After those songs were sung, Kenedy gave Monica a glass of Jurema remedy
that he took from a container, and told Monica to hold the glass with her right hand
and drink it. Monica drank it and complained about its bitter strong taste. Then a song
was sung again, evoking a spiritual being when they asked permission to “play” with
a specific plant that is mentioned in the song. Then another song was sung asking a
The songs, in general, are sung three times. Some songs were sung with just
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understood that some songs are not sung in words because this ritual was for a non-
indigenous person. One of the songs says, “You drank mesinha,84 you have become
drunk” and mentions the “mesa” and that “it is time to work” finishing with “hey-eh-
ah-hey-ha-hey-ah-hey-ah.”
Then, Kenedy starts to ask Monica questions. The remedy is once more given
to Monica drink. She already has a serious expression on her face, and after she
drinks, she vomits.85 Kenedy asks her to speak. Then, Monica starts to laugh loudly
and to move her legs and arms as though she was avoiding everything. This scene
was very similar to the one that I had watched when Monica embodied a spirit for the
first time. At this moment Kenedy, Candara, and both male “table sitters” held
Monica, and Kenedy told her to speak about “who” was “there.” This scene lasted for
more than twenty minutes. After several attempts, she finally spoke about someone
from the past, from southern Brazil, where Monica travels to see her biological
mother. It is discovered that it was a person from southern Brazil who sent the spirit
to possess Monica‟s body. After Kenedy exorcises the spirit, Monica remains quiet.
Kenedy gives the last glass of the Jurema remedy to Monica. After a little
while, he finds out that there is another spirit that embodies Monica. It is something
that he senses as he starts asking her questions and making her speak. Monica
apparently is not possessed and she speaks normally. Kenedy discovers that a “left
service” from somebody from Propriá city, who is occasionally in contact with
84
Literally translated in Portuguese, mesinha means little table, but in the
sense of this colloquial use it means remedy, which they use to refer to the Jurema
remedy that Monica had drank.
85
Candara says that it is good that it happened because it is cleaning her body,
and also that a diahera may happen
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Monica, sent an evil spirit to her. He tells Monica to search her bedroom for
something that was given to her. Monica mentions a red rose, which she kept dry in
her bedroom. Kenedy tells her to get rid of it, and to throw it away from her home.
Then, Kenedy asks three questions to Monica, telling her to answer “No”
when it relates to evilness, and telling her to answer “Yes” when it relates to
goodness. He repeats the questions, and Monica answers them, three times. While the
“table sitters” light their candles and place each one on different parts of Monica‟s
body, they simultaneously blow them out. This procedure is followed from her head,
to her shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. Before they light and blow the
candles, they sing a song which tells that they are going “to close” her body with “the
four lights of the sky” to avoid male and female “enemies,” and also “evil winds.”
I understood that it is at this moment of the ritual that the body is literally
closed, through the use of fire from the candle‟s flame, which is mentioned in the
song as “four lights from the sky.” Airs, which the “table sitters” make by blowing
out the candles, are also used as a tool to close the body. The parts of the body that
are focused on are mostly joints, where possible movements and flexibility of the
body are located. They are places where the body is vulnerable to airs passing
When they finished, Monica seemed happy. Kenedy talked privately with
Monica and her boyfriend. It was very interesting because, after the ritual, all of those
who came with Monica asked shamanic specialists for a reza ritual. So, together in
the same room, Dona Marieta and Candara each performed a ritual on different
people. Dona Marieta performed a reza on Monica‟s aunt, and then on Monica‟s
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mother, while Candara performed a reza first on Monica‟s cousin and then on
Monica‟s boyfriend.
I had the opportunity to watch two more mesa rituals. Neither, however,
involved spirit possession as with Monica‟s case. One was performed on a young man
who lives close to Propriá city. I interviewed him after the ritual and he explained that
he came to the mesa because he had been “weak,” “without strength.” He said that
after Candara “prayed” on him and prescribed “bottled” remedy, Candara had
suggested that a mesa ritual was appropriate for him. He mentioned that he had
recovered considerably after he had met Candara and followed his advice.
The other case of a mesa ritual that I watched involved a teenage girl who was
very angry and seemed “out of control.” It did not relate, however, to spirit
possession. Kenedy told me that her problem was caused by cannabis use, but he did
not mention this to her mother. They performed this ritual when the teenager‟s mother
and uncle brought her. The girl cried during the ritual and talked about her problems.
After the ritual, she seemed already recovered from her emotional distress.
In the mesa ritual is the use of the Jurema remedy, which is considered among
the Kariri-Shoco as the “remedy of the Indian.” Both the mestre shamanic specialist
and the patient drink Jurema. Nascimento (1994) describes a few historical
references which evidence that since the eighteenth century Jurema plant has been
1954) mentions that “Jurema Cult apparently was extremely common” (Hohenthal
1960b, 76) among all groups that he had visited in this region, such as Fulni-ô, Tushá,
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visions” (Hohenthal (1960b, 76). Hohenthal (1954) also mentions that two different
kinds of Jurema were used: “the „white‟ (Acacia jurema Mart.) and the „black‟
Hohenthal (1954, 148) describes that the Fulni-ô “prefer the „black‟” while the
Shucuru use both (black or white ones). Mota (1987) mentions three different kind of
Jurema (Vitex agnus-castus Linn., Mimosa verrucose Benth., Mimosa hostilis Benth.)
that the Kariri-Shoco use, which have a central role in “sacred life,” as having “both
traits of gentleness and strength… [and] being classified as both female and male
[spirit plant]” (Mota 1987, 159-160). Pajé Júlio considers Jurema as a female plant.
distinguish three different kinds, as “white,” “black,” and “red” Jurema plants.
Among the Kariri-Shoco, the use of Jurema varies according to the shamanic
specialist preference. Candara prefers to use the “red” (“Jurema vermelha”) either in
mesa rituals, preparing “the remedy” with the plant‟s root, or for making any kind of
“bottle” remedies, according to the patient‟s health problem, mixing the barks of the
psychotropic plant and its hallucinogenic properties and effects depends on how it is
prepared, which is not the case for the “bottle” remedies that Candara prepares and
The use of what Langdon (1994a, 17) calls “psychedelics” is very widespread
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among the Huichol, the use of mushroom (Psilocybe) among the Mazatec, and many
other psychotropic plants as examples on how different peoples use those kinds of
data about the association of songs with psychotropic plants indigenous‟ use. As an
example of a relation between shamans and plants, Luna (1994) describes how Don
Emilio (shaman) considers “Ojé [tree] a powerful plant teacher” (Luna 1994, 237)
when its “spirit” is who “instructs [him] in the cure of certain illnesses” (Luna 1994,
237). Thus, the use of Jurema by the Kariri-Shoco as a psychedelic and medicinal
shamanisms.
of medical practices for cure-healing purposes. All of them involve the use of words
case of evil spirit, blows, Jurema psychotropic plant, and songs (Monica‟s case) or
suctions and words of powers (Dona Marieta‟s reza ritual performed by Mr. Zeca and
força and power of the cure is in the words that are spoken by the shamanic specialist,
but also the breath that comes out from the shaman‟s mouth. Dein (2002) argues that
examination of how participants understand the nature of language and its relation to
the world, a „cultural ontology of language‟ (Dein 2002, 45). In the case of reza
rituals for evil eyes and “open arcs” the performance involves powerful words which
230
are directed to the body and health problems, from which a communication is
established with the patient‟s body. It is through embodied knowledge that shamanic
specialists, during reza rituals, sense, feel, and “attract” what is causing the patient‟s
health problem. As I have described, those two reza rituals illustrate how shamanistic
The power of the words of prayers during reza rituals belongs to the domain of
how language is experienced by the Kariri-Shoco. The evil can be removed from the
patient‟s body through words from the sacred and secret domain of shamanistic
power. Because those words have this power and strength through the shamanic
specialist‟s body, it is removed from the patient‟s body when he searches (in different
parts of the body) and when he also mentions and finds (different health problems,
symptoms, and causes) speaking, asking, and obtaining from spiritual beings the
power to cure. Taking Dein‟s (2002) suggestion, in this cultural context the words are
effectively able to extract the evil from the patient‟s body. In the case of evil eye, the
words that comes out from the mouth of the shamanic specialist have “grace,”
“strength,” and “power” of spiritual beings. It is through air from the yawning that the
evil comes out of the patient‟s body, but it is also through softly blowing (almost
whispering) or strong suctions or blows (in the patients ears, on the head) that the evil
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CHAPTER VII
I am not able to stand back from the body and its experiences to reflect on
them; this withdrawal is unable to grasp my body-as-it-is-lived-by-me. I have
access to knowledge of my body only by living it. (Grosz 1994, 86).
through experiences and bodily processes (Grosz 1994). The notion of gendered
embodiment is utilized from the articulation of biological sex and gender within
coheres within representations (Butler 1990). Thus, the notion of gender utilized
Grosz (1994), who suggests that lived experiences and perceptions can
provide a basis for approaching and articulating the mind-body and subject-object
perceiver intertwined with the subject‟s corporeality. The focus on the perceiving
232
subjectivity through an existential ground (Grosz 1994). Butler (1990, 1993) focuses
on how gender, sexual practice, and desire become arranged, and argues that it is
bodies, genders, and desires. Thus, the concept of gendered embodiment demarcates a
subjectivity.
searching directly for cultural knowledge associated with these domains, to explore
female embodiment as a cultural theme.87 This procedure helped to guide the research
to in-depth data collection about symbolic categories within those domains. In order
86
Spradley (1979) considers “domains” “any symbolic category that includes
other categories.” The discovery of domains is done by identifying the existence of
“similarities among folk terms” (Spradley 1979, 100), which should be investigated
and associated with symbolic categories.
87
Spradley (1979) defines cultural theme as “any cognitive principle, tacit or
explicit, recurrent in a number of domains and serving as a relationship among
subsystems of cultural meaning” (Spradley 1979, 186).
233
I first describe how Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists perceive and
embodiment related to their own cure-healing practices and knowledge of the body
are provided.
Here, I draw attention to Kariri-Shoco concepts of the body and point out how
these are intertwined with cure-healing shamanic practices and sexual differences.
Then, I explain how female corporeality and bodily fluids, particularly from
menstrual blood, are intertwined with these concepts of the body and physiological
use of aborto (abortion or miscarriage), and sexual practices and desire, are sensitive
and difficult areas to research because they imply legal, moral, and ethical issues. The
descriptions are mainly based on two shamanic specialists, Dona Maria Velha and
practices between a male and a female shaman. As Dona Marieta was considered a
powerful rezadeira and her son Candara, also, a powerful rezador and curandeiro
shaman among the Kariri-Shoco, I asked them about who was the strongest one
234
between them. Dona Marieta explained that her son is “stronger” (“mais forte”) than
her “because he is a man.” She considered, like several Kariri-Shoco shamans that I
have interviewed, that the man has a stronger body and Kariri-Shoco male shamans
always have a body strong enough to perform cure-healing practices. On the other
hand, Candara told me that his mother was a stronger rezadeira shaman than himself.
Candara explained that the reason why Dona Marieta was “stronger” was that she had
been a widow for over fifty years and since then she had no man. He also added: “She
has not menstruated anymore for a long time.” He continued telling me with a smile
on his face, that although he was already seventy-two years old, he was still “strong
enough to perform [his] duties as a man” (“forte o suficiente para cumprir [suas]
obrigações de homem”] that he and his wife still have sexual intercourse, and “of
Although I was aware that ethnographic interviews are guided by the use of
both questions and answers discovered from informants, 88 I realized that questions I
discover whom they considered stronger between male or female shamans reflected
that Kariri-Shoco perceptions on gender issues often regard how male and female
bodies have “força” (strength) according to certain properties of the body. For
example, the conception that menstrual blood makes the female body weaker for
88
See Appendix C for detailed explanation on how ethnographic interviews
were formulated by descriptive, structural, verification, etc. questions.
235
that although both Kariri-Shoco men and women consider men stronger than women,
this perception is linked to their conception of bodily processes in which male and
female bodies differ. This perception is reflected in how female shamans might
become rezadeiras, while male shamans might become curandeiros, who are those
From Candara‟s point of view, his mother was “mais forte” (“stronger”) than
him, considering the long time that she had been without having sexual intercourse
and without menstruating. I confirmed, then, why Dona Marieta had the opinion that
male shamans are stronger than female. Among the Kariri-Shoco, sexual differences
between the male and female body are demarcated through bodily processes, from
which female bodily fluids related to the menstrual cycle and post-delivery bodily
the body can be “aberto” (“opened”) or “fechado” (“closed”). When women are in
menses (also after delivery), and for both men and women after sexual intercourse, or
after drinking alcoholic beverages, the body becomes “aberto.” The “corpo aberto”
strong enough” for cure-healing and Ouricuri ritual practices. That is the reason why
sexual intercourse practices and alcoholic beverages are forbidden for three days
before Ouricuri rituals. It is necessary to wait at least three days after those practices,
The number three represents a perfect timing for „closedness‟ of the body,
when the body closes three days after sexual intercourse, menstruation, and alcoholic
236
beverage drinking. Several medicinal plant treatments are also completed during three
menstruated for the first time, a treatment done with the ingestion of three seeds, in
order to have menstruation for three days, which is considered the perfect duration.
Several of them told me that it worked, as they explained they had their period during
considered a practice realized by people‟s will, and thus, it could be avoided. The
ones who do not respect those rules, avoiding drinking alcoholic beverages and
sexual intercourse for at least three days before Ouricuri rituals, are susceptible to a
great danger when a “punishment” from the shamanistic realm may reach the person
or the ones close to the person (like family members). One shamanic specialist
selected as a case study described his experience when he had sexual intercourse less
than three days before an Ouricuri ritual. He told me that he was very sick for more
than six months and almost died. He explained that he was “exemplado”
could perform cure-healing practices like men. Both affirmed that “women can,” but
“It depends on a woman‟s age. Because a woman arrives at that age that stops
menstruating… then there is no more impediment [imparo], she is sure, she is
237
always sure for a reza [ritual], for a cure. But in the case when she is young,
when she is regrando [ruling, which she means monthly menstruating], not all
the time she is secure for reza [ritual performance].”
The word rule, which in Portuguese is regra, is a cover term for menstruation.
The way Dona Chiquinha uses this term as a verb demonstrates a semantic
discourse when she speaks about menstruation during an ethnographic interview that
I describe below.
powerful than younger female ones, since they have, according to Dona Chiquinha,
“no more impediment” for cure-healing shamanic ritual practices. Dulcilene told me
that when a woman is menstruating it is “dangerous” for her. The “cure can only be
done when the person‟s body is fiche [strong].” Dulcilene also explained:
Shamanic specialists often use the word força as reference to the power they
have during cure-healing rituals. It is with their strength that they face evil during
cure-healing rituals. This word – força - is also used when shamanic specialists refer
to how remedies are prescribed to those who have sexual problems, in order for them
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According to Dulcilene, cure-healing practices are particularly dangerous for a
menstruating shamanic specialist because the body is not strong enough to “face” evil
spirits, who may be causing the patient‟s health problem. The menstrual blood
practices.
female shaman who decided not to establish a conjugal relationship and became
single as a shamanic specialist. After she separated from her second husband, when
she was forty-three years old, Dona Zezinha explained that she had several men who
were interested in her, but her Ouricuri was enough for her “fulfillment.” I asked
Dona Zezinha if she thought that male shamans were stronger than female among the
“Women here are as strong as men. Women sometimes have more strength
than many men because men drink, sometimes because they have two women
and they have to satisfy one and the other, a man like that is not prepared all
the time.”
Dona Zezinha also explained how all Kariri-Shoco elderly women who are
“Avós” have been “fortes” (“strong”), and also that they are those who “provide a lot
“obligations” related to the Ouricuri ritual. In this explanation, Dona Zezinha touched
on two issues that I had already observed among the Kariri-Shoco. Men usually drink
alcoholic beverages (there are several cases of alcoholism among them), and practice
infidelity. Consequently men have their bodies opened alcohol and from sexual
intercourse practices.
239
I asked Baioca about who are stronger male or female shamans and she
“In my case, I am strong and prepared for everything. I confront evil things; I
have how to care to defend myself… there are persons strong and others
weak. Because I have this gift given by God, I was born for that, therefore I
have to search to see what is happening, to see, and to defend, through the
body, soul and spirit.”
something that cleans the female body, which shows how it is related to women‟s
The concept of the „openness‟ and „closedness‟ of the body is also intertwined
with how menstruation and conception are perceived and associated as being part of
same domain of cultural knowledge. This was discovered through several Kariri-
about when during the month that they could easily become pregnant. As a shamanic
“She [menstruation] goes away [finishes] but the womb‟s mouth stays opened.
The blood stays going away, then three days and a night after this, the man
goes [has sexual intercourse], then it [male bodily fluids] goes rightly because
she [the woman] is opened, and her liquid [female sexual bodily fluids] also
helps.”
240
The Kariri-Shoco idea that menstruating women have their body “opened” is
empirically related to their perceptions that when there is menstrual blood fluxes the
“womb‟s mouth” is opened and continues open for at least three days after
examples below.
Frederico explained that after menopause the woman becomes “colder, but
there are those who become more fogosa [excited]” for sexual practices. Frederico
told me those changes occur, “because her ovary closes, because before [menopause]
she was despachando [delivering menstrual blood] every month.”89 Then, Frederico
mentioned that “after menopause the woman becomes dry” (“depois da menopausa a
mulher fica seca”) because she is “closed.” Thus, female menstrual bodily fluids and
processes are intimately intertwined with the female body‟s „openness‟ and sexual
desire.
“Although there are women who search to have more sensation for her
hormones stay younger, many women are more resistant to have the sensation,
89
Frederico uses the word despachando (the verb is despachar) in a peculiar way. I have translated
despachando as delivering, which he uses to refer to menstrual cycle blood fluxes. This verb is
often used to refer to the act of delivering, which for Kariri-Shoco women happens when the
placenta comes out after they deliver the baby. I discuss this perception of delivery when I describe
reproductive women experiences. The context in which Frederico uses the verb despachar
illustrates it as cover term associated with menstrual cycle blood fluxes and also with delivery, as
something that comes out of women‟s bodies (whether menstrual blood, fetus, or placenta) related
to reproductive processes.
90
women in this study often explained that three or four
Kariri-Shoco reproductive
days after menstruation women are more susceptible to conceive, and that female
sexual pleasure, related to sexual intercourse, also contributes to women‟s
conception.
241
and therefore they don‟t get pregnant because the semen cannot be sustained
[inside her body].”
both female and male bodily fluids during sexual intercourse provide the possibility
for female conception. I understood that it is female openness associated with wetness
(from male and female bodily fluids during sexual intercourse) that makes the woman
become pregnant. That is why after female and male menopause (as I explain below),
when both men and women become dry by not having sexual bodily fluids, which for
women also include lack of menstrual cycle, that both male and female bodies are
about whether it was more difficult for men or women to have sexual pleasure, she
told me that “the woman is receiving that liquid going up [male bodily fluids] and
coming down [female bodily fluids], she is the one who has to feel more pleasure
than he; it is more difficult for men than for women.” She continued: “Because she is
receiving it [male bodily fluids], the woman has the possibility to gozar [to have
orgasm] faster than him.”91 Then, after I asked her if it was her own experience, she
answered affirmatively, “For sure” (“Com certeza”). This same shamanic specialist
explained with more details how men and women experience sexual intercourse and
“There are men that coisa [thing, ejaculates] first and quickly [she referred to
premature ejaculation]. When he is there agitating himself to enjoy, she has
also to agitate herself to accompany him. Several women don‟t se agita
91
This female shamanic specialist‟s perception illustrates how female and
male sexual bodily fluids are associated with sexual pleasure. Other shamanic
specialists, like Frederico as I describe below.
242
[agitate herself] together with him because, when this happens, the child stays
at that right time [of the orgasm]. The [male bodily] liquids go up through her
vagina and then it goes to her belly and the child is generated. And if he is the
first and she is the last [to have orgasm], there is no problem, they can do what
they want and the child won‟t stay. For her to get a pregnancy it is necessary
that she feel pleasure, so the son [child] comes.”
Frederico also shared this view that it is easier for women than for men to
have sexual pleasure, although when I asked him if more men or women were his
patients, he said that mostly women searched for his help. Frederico explained that
most of women‟s problems relate to the relationships they have with boyfriends,
husbands or partners. Regarding sexual problems, he said that both women and men
had problems because “they can get dry” (“eles podem secar”). He said that he knows
“remedies that can generate more [female or male bodily fluids]” and that “man‟s
força comes from the mind, while woman‟s goes up to the head” (“a força do homem
explanation relates to his perception that it is more difficult for men to perform sexual
practices because “the man has to prepare himself [to have erection], while the
woman is always already prepared” (“o homem tem de se preparar, enquanto que a
term from the ethnophysiological domain to explain the capability or strength of male
and female bodies for sexual intercourse and pleasure. I understand that Frederico
states that “woman‟s força goes up to the head,” because a woman is able to control
her sexual pleasure and she may use this ability during sexual intercourse in order to
avoid pregnancy.
243
Then, Frederico spoke about how he treats men and women who have sexual
problems, and explained that men‟s problems are associated with “the nerves” (“os
“The man who has finished [bodily fluids] is a depleted man [homem
acabado]. Those older that seventy years search me and I apply a remedy for
him to return [male bodily fluids] and to get more strength [força] and
strengthen [fortalecer] the nerves. For the woman, it is to strengthen the
hormones.”
his concept of another included term, “mind,” which is responsible for men‟s força in
specialists also use those words. I consider his use of the term “hormones” as an
which stands for female‟s bodily fluid production. Dona Maria Velha refers to
perception that “hormones” are associated with women‟s bodily fluid production,
which includes sexual bodily fluids and menstrual blood. His perception of the
“nerves” that relates to men‟s bodily fluid production is linked to the idea of “to be
prepared,” which is necessary for male sexual practices. Those perceptions are
associated to sexual differences that are implicit in how male and female bodies
differ, which are also implicit in Kariri-Shoco ideas of how male and female bodies
are formed.
244
What I often found in discourses related to bodily sexual differences was the
use of the word “força” (“strength”), rather than comparisons or statements on which
is the strongest between male and female bodies. I recorded data among shamanic
explain that, when a woman has an aborto/miscarriage, if it happens close or after the
third month when the fetus is already formed, one can see the sexual difference.
When it happens before that, it is also easy to distinguish because the female embryo
sangue”), while, when it is a male embryo, it is “like a snake” (“como uma cobra”),
“a thing of flesh” (“uma coisa de carne”), “like a tiny lizard” (“como uma víbora
pequena”). I recorded several explanations that reveal this conception about the
formed by blood, and has a liquid consistency, while the male is formed by flesh.
92
I recorded data from descriptive questions during ethnographic interviews
about interviewees‟ experiences with aborto/miscarriage by asking them about the
embryo or fetus gender and how it could be identified.
245
mentions as responsible for body fluid production and which characterize sexual
difference.
I was surprised with the perception on how women are “already prepared” for
sexual practices. I understand this relates to the fact that men have to have erections
(to “be prepared,” to “get ready”) in order to perform sexual practices, while women
“are always already ready.” In my point of view, this relates to what I had often heard
from reproductive women: they have to “serve” their husbands whenever they want to
have sexual intercourse, even if the women lack desire. It also relates to the way
female corporeality is perceived, in which it is not necessary for a body change (like
“It happens because man has problems when he becomes weaker and cannot
raise it up [to have erection] and he is not anymore the man he used to be. I
know how to make remedies for young ones who have this problem, but for
old ones I don‟t have remedy. To old ones it is more difficult because he is
already on weakness.93 Is he going to raise it up [to have erection] to go
where? He has to be quiet. But the younger one has to take remedy to become
stronger and to become again the man he used to be, to be man.”
Frederico was the only shamanic specialist who spoke about “male
menopause,” which he defined as “the problem that it is more difficult for a young
man to have and it happens usually to a man at the age of seventy years, when he gets
dry.” Thus, it is clear that male and female bodily fluids (including menstrual blood
fluxes) are fundamentally perceived as linked to conception and sexual practices and
93
The context in which D. Maria Velha uses the word weakness (fraqueza)
shows how the male aged body is perceived as weak. I believe that in the Kariri-
Shoco cultural context, while women become stronger with the age, particularly after
menopause, men become weaker as they become old. I do not have sufficient data to
confirm this observation.
246
desires of males and females. It is very interesting how female sexual pleasure
happens before the male‟s orgasm. I consider this perception of female sexual
151), follows biological sex. This perception is also expressed in other discourses.
avoiding sexual pleasure before her husband. She mentioned that it “worked”
(“funcionou”), although when she first got married she did not have any experience of
contraception relates to how women from her generation perceive birth control pills
as something that accumulates inside a woman‟s belly and that are dangerous for
reproductive women use, I found out that this perception has changed, since there are
several younger women who were using (or had used) birth control pills.
An elderly shamanic specialist also told me, based on her own experience, that
whenever she had pleasure during sexual intercourse she became pregnant. She
explained that she had twelve children (she got married when she was fourteen years
247
old) and that she had never been “a woman with too much pleasure” during sexual
intercourse, but every time she had pleasure she “caught a pregnancy” (became
pregnant).
“About pregnancy, sometimes the woman gets pregnant and doesn‟t know
[that she conceived]. When they [man and woman] are having sexual
intercourse, she is getting pleasure and then she finds the man who finds her
ovary open. When the woman menstruates, she is opened and on the day that
she has sexual relation [after menstruation is over] then the liquid from the
man gets sustained and strength [inside her body]. Then there is the risk to get
pregnancy. It is very difficult to have sexual intercourse when the woman is
menstruating.”
illnesses that a man could catch if he has sexual intercourse during the time a woman
is menstruating. After delivery, one of the most important health care issues related to
resguardo is that sexual intercourse has to be avoided for at least thirty days.94
sexual intercourse when she was menstruating. She said that her menstrual blood kept
sixteen days after she had sexual intercourse when she was menstruating. She
explained that she drank a remedy, made with a mushroom called “wood‟s ear”
come up.” She told me that this remedy “worked” (“funcionou”) and that she
94
It is very widespread among different indigenous peoples in Brazil that
sexual intercourse is prohibited after delivery (Fausto 2001; McCallum 2001; Seeger
1981; Viveiros de Castro 1986).
248
discovered, not long after her “blood came up” (“o sangue subiu,” stopped
menstruation), that she was pregnant. She explained her experience to tell me how
pregnancy.” Thus, Kariri-Shoco women associate and experience the female body‟s
Once, I was at Dona Maria Velha‟s home when her relative (a thirty-six year
old single woman) came to ask for her help. Dona Maria Velha‟s relative explained
that her menstruation was not “going away” (“indo embora”), that she had had a
menstrual hemorrhage for more than ten days. Dona Maria Velha told her relative to
find “wood ear,” which grows on wooden fences, and suggested that she make a
strong tea for drinking as a remedy. After several days, I visited Dona Maria Velha‟s
relative to find out if she was well and if the remedy had been effective. This woman
told me that she only drank the “tea” remedy twice for stopping menstruating, and
Talking to Dona Maria Velha about this remedy, with which I was impressed
for having this effect of stopping menstrual blood fluxes (including hemorrhage), she
95
Leal (1995, 1997) conducted an important study on working class women in
southern Brazil where they conceive that fertility either overlaps or coincides with the
menstrual period. It is through understanding the “logic behind the social
representation of the body, of bodily fluids and of conception” (Leal 1997, 157) that
Leal (1997) articulates their choices and use of contraceptive methods. Leal (1997)
argues that instead of ignorance of reproductive and contraceptive practices, in the
context of “massively broadcast” information about contraception, these women
subordinate the medical advice on reproduction to “an essentially feminine domain”
(Leal 1997, 158), in which a “cultural model of the body specific to the working
class” is produced (Leal 1997, 158). This situation where menstrual blood symbolizes
fertility for women has also been ethnographically registered in other studies in
southern Brazil (see Victoria 1995, 1997), including among another indigenous
group, the Pataxó HãHãHãe, in Northeast Brazil (Souza 2002).
249
explained that sometimes women who are menstruating also take it before going to
Ouricuri rituals. Dona Maria Velha explained that since in the Ouricuri village
woman does not feel comfort when she has to be concerned with her menstrual blood.
Thus, this is the reason why some women prefer to take this remedy before they go to
Ouricuri rituals.
I describe data in the next chapter that show how reproductive women use
indigenous contraceptives to regulate their menstrual cycle when they take “bush
Kariri-Shoco remedies for menstrual bodily fluxes, when women have the control for
making menstruation stop (by “making the blood come up”) or inducing menstruation
(by “making the blood come down”). This data reflects how Kariri-Shoco women
have the ability, through indigenous medical knowledge, to control their menstrual
bodily fluxes and their fertility. This control demonstrates how they exercise power
over their own bodily processes, which also include decisions they take regarding
female orgasm and/or sexual pleasure during sexual intercourse. This is the reason
woman‟s strength “goes up to the head” to be associated with the power that woman
have over their own bodily processes, sexual pleasure and desire, and fertility.
researching Kariri-Shoco reproductive women. She explained how the female body
differs from the male, when she described different parts of the female body:
250
“We call orvalho [ovary] which is close to the appendix. The ultra [womb]
and two langas [glands, I understood she mentioned the fallopian tubes] and
the owner of the body, who receives all man‟s ceboseira [filthiness; she
referred to male body fluids] and that [the owner of the body] makes the
menstruation.”96
Then, Dona Maria Velha explained about this emic organ called “the owner of
the body,” which is part of the female reproductive body. It is responsible for the
menstrual cycle and also generates the fetus and feeds it by “making blood:”
“She [dona do corpo] is who makes the child to be generated when they
couple [pareia; she refers to male bodily fluids‟ encounter with the dona do
corpo], it is for sure her [the dona do corpo]. The child is generated with her
[the dona do corpo]. The dona do corpo stays making blood to feed the child.
When the child is born she stays searching, moving, in the same way like the
child. She forms like a child‟s head inside the woman‟s belly.”
medical doctor thought that she had another child inside her belly after she delivered
“Doctor Mucio asked me if I had relatives who had twins. It was not another
child; it was she [the dona do corpo] forming that cake [bolo] of blood. And
he [the medical doctor] tried, tried [as he was making a curettage], and he only
found those cakes of blood [bolos de sangue]. While he didn‟t take out those
cakes of blood, the pain didn‟t go away”97
96
The words orvalho (ovary), ultra (womb) and langas are colloquial included
terms that Dona Maria Velha uses to speak about parts of the female reproductive
body domain. Thus, I did not translate literally and considered the colloquial use of
those words for translation.
97
This shamanic specialist told me that she suffered considerably because the
doctor‟s hand was too big, and he searched to find out if she had another fetus inside
her belly. I understood from her description, and from the obstetric suspicions of
another fetus, that he made curettage on her.
251
When I asked a verification question to this shamanic specialist, if this
situation was dangerous, since the medical doctor could make the “dona do corpo”
“She doesn‟t come out, if she does she dies! She is blood, Silvia; the woman
dies [if she comes out]. She makes a sound bauummm, a snoring on the hips;
it is her that is alive. Sometimes, when she snores like that, you go and
defecate as the person is with diarrhea;98 or when she is in the stomach you
can vomit blood. She is like a snake that has a tail and walks [inside the body].
She walks, she goes to the rectum, she goes to the hips, she goes to the belly
bottom, and she goes to the stomach.”99
Dona Maria Velha told me about how she performs reza rituals using the ramo
(bunch of leaves), but she also described another kind of reza ritual when she puts her
right toe on the woman where the woman feels the pain caused by the “ dona do
corpo.” Dona Maria Velha and I had the following conversation when she described
the reza ritual and more details about the “dona do corpo.”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] When [the woman] goes to the rezador [ or rezadeira
shaman], the rezador [ or rezadeira shaman] prays on the dona do corpo.”
“[I asked:] Do you know how to pray on her?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] I know. Sometimes I pray using the ramo [bunch of leaves],
but sometimes I make another reza [ritual]: I put this toe on the woman‟s belly
with the right foot, where the woman feels the pain. Then I make the Cross-
sign with the foot to make the pain go away, I put the foot and with the words
I say:
…If it is my filthy comade [term used between godmother and godchild‟s
mother, as a fictive kin],
I cut your head and I cut your tail!
Search for your place!‟”
“[I said:] It is like a threat you make for her to back off.”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] Yes, it is like this, for her to back off. Then I continue.
… if it is my filthy comade,
Make an arc [to move as an arrow] pain and search for your place!
…Make arc blood, and run inside the body,
98
I describe, in the next chapter, a case study (Ann), who experienced
diarrhea, when she felt the “dona do corpo.”
99
This female shamanic specialist told me about a woman she knew who died
vomiting blood caused by the “dona do corpo.”
252
…Make arc pain of blood, climb up and search for your veins!
…Because if it is from blood, if it is my filthy comade “
Dona Maria Velha told me that the pain is the “dona do corpo,” then she
Dona Maria Velha explains that she uses a string to tie around the woman‟s
waist. I found that this reza ritual has analogous procedures to the one for “open
arcs,” described in the previous chapter, when a knot is made with the use of a white
string (not a white cloth, like in the one for open arcs) on the person‟s body to make
the “dona do corpo” go back to her place (while for open arcs, the objective is also to
make the breast get back to its place). Dona Maria Velha explains how she finishes
this reza ritual for the “dona do corpo” when she makes a knot in a string that she
“[D. Ma. Velha:] Then I go with the string, tying it up until it gets on the
woman‟s waist.”
“[I asked:] Do you tie the string around the person?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] I tie it up [the string] through words and I use the string on
the person to make a knot. I make that knot on the woman‟s waist and when I
make that knot, she [dona do corpo] runs away.”
Dona Maria Velha‟s explanation reveals how words during the reza ritual
have the power to direct manipulation of the body. The words used in this reza ritual
literally tie the “dona do corpo” making her goes back to her place. Then, as we
continued our conversation, Dona Maria Velha told how the use of a man‟s pants or
belt can also make the “dona do corpo” go back to her place. Dona Maria Velha
253
explained, “She is like a woman” (“Ela é como uma mulher”) and “made of blood”
(“feita de sangue”):
“[D. Ma. Velha:] And if she is threatening in the rectum, the woman can take and fold
a man‟s pants to sit on it, because the dona do corpo doesn‟t like man. A woman can
also put a man‟s belt around her belly when she feels belly pain caused by the dona
do corpo and it works too.”
“[I asked:] Why doesn‟t she like man, Dona Maria?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] It is because the pants and belt belong to a man. And she is like a
woman. The use of pants and belt are to make her [the dona do corpo] go to her
place.”
“[I said:] I didn‟t understand, she is like a woman?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] I‟m making a comparison, she is like a woman, like a species of
person. For example, if I am suffering and it is she, if it is the pain of blood that the
newborn came out, she keeps moving inside, because she is alive. Then the cure [reza
ritual] has to be done. It has to be given a remedy that she doesn‟t like for her to go
away from there [because she is displaced].”
From Dona Maria Velha‟s explanation the “dona do corpo” can be considered
with the meaning sense as the “Dona do corpo” as the “Mistress of the body” or like
Dona Maria Velha literally has explained, “she is like a woman [ela é como uma
that Dona Maria Velha had given me when she mentioned, the “Dona do corpo …
“[I said:] But I still don‟t understand why she doesn‟t like man. Don‟t women like
man?”
“[D. Ma. Velha:] Yes, they do. I say like that because she [the Dona do corpo] is
made of blood. The man doesn‟t have blood to provoke pain on his belly! And the
woman is the one who receives it [blood], I mean the woman‟s womb is opened to
receive the man to transar [have sexual intercourse] and the womb has to open to
make the newborn be delivered, the newborn is generated by the blood, by the veins,
the blood is what is going to feed and generate the child, and it is generated with her
[the Dona do corpo], do you understand? That is like this.”
254
I understand from Dona Maria Velha‟s explanation that since blood (which
includes the Dona do corpo as a female organ) characterizes the female‟s body, the
use of male‟s objects like pants and belt (which men use on the abdomen) work as a
tool to make the Dona do corpo go back to her place and stop the pain that she
provokes. Frederico mentions the use of a man‟s belt to control “dor de mulher”
about the Dona do corpo and dor de mulher. He gave me the following explanation:
“The Dona do corpo is part of the ovary. When the woman has the bladder
lower, she [the Dona do corpo] can come out. I met an old woman here who
needed to go to the doctor to suspend the bladder. I know how to pray on the
Dona do corpo. I take two small white rocks and pray Hail Queen. It is
necessary a reza [ritual] because it makes the spiritual and material cure. Dor
de mulher is generated during pregnancy, when the pain is too strong she [the
woman] can take a man‟s belt and put it on her waist, then it will hold the
pain. The Dona do corpo provokes pains and makes a cake like a worm
[inside the woman‟s belly]. She [the Dona do corpo] stays after delivery
hunting [searching] for the child that she [the Dona do corpo] generates. But
dor de mulher comes from the family [congenital] to have it or not. 100 There
are women that do not take care of themselves then the dor de mulher is
created [criada].101”
100
I describe ethnographic data that confirms this notion that “woman‟s pain”
is congenital. In the section where I describe reproductive women‟s case studies, I
mention what Ema explains to me why she does not have “woman‟s pain” related to
the “Dona do corpo.” She told me that never caught it from another woman who has
“dor de mulher.” Thus, dor de mulher is considered contagious and also congenital.
101
Kariri-Shoco reproductive women regularly make use of gynecological
preventive treatments using “bush” remedies, which they often explain they are using
to keep healthy. From Frederico‟s explanation, those preventive treatments are
associated with health care connected to dor de mulher and/or to the Dona do corpo.
255
I base my analysis here on Frederico and Dona Maria Velha‟s discourses. I
understood from Dona Maria Velha‟s explanation that the Dona do corpo is
inside the female body and “she is made of blood.” Male‟s body is not characterized
by blood, as Frederico uses the word “hormones” as responsible for female bodily
fluids production.102 The “nerves” and “flesh” characterize male‟s embryos. This
perception of sexual difference between male and female embryos, from which the
male‟s body is widely conceived as stronger than the female, is reflected in embodied
ethnophysiological concepts and logic. The use of a man‟s belt to make a Dona do
corpo go back to her place (as Dona Maria Velha explained) or to make dor de
mulher stop (mentioned by Frederico) shows how a male object can serve as a
(dor de mulher).
when she receives male sexual bodily fluids, and consequently she has fundamental
roles: for conception (when she “generates” the child), pregnancy (when she “feeds”
the fetus), menstrual cycle (when she is responsible for menstruation), delivery (when
she “provokes pain”) and post-delivery symptoms (when she “searches” for the fetus
and “walks” inside the woman‟s belly provoking pain). Those are situations
102
During another ethnographic interview (which I describe in subsection
6.3.1), Dona Maria Velha clearly stated that a man does not have menopause because
“he doesn‟t have blood in his belly to provoke pain!” It was from analysis of included
terms, such as “blood,” mentioned by Dona Maria Velha, and “hormones,” mentioned
by Frederico, that I discovered that blood and female bodily liquids (“hormones”),
have a semantic relationship through analogy. Still, my analysis is based on my
interpretation because I have not realized an extensive taxonomic and componential
analysis following Spradley‟s (1979) method.
256
(menstruation, sexual intercourse and [post-]delivery), when there is a transgression
of the female body‟s „openness‟. Since the Dona do corpo has the role of receiving
male sexual bodily fluids and generates the child, she is the one responsible for
intercourse. That is the reason why the Dona do corpo does not like man. This is my
interpretation of why the Dona do corpo is “like a woman” and why “she doesn‟t like
man,” based on Dona Maria Velha‟s perception and explanation, using also
the female and male body are based on their perceptions in domains related to
that although there is a wide perception among the Kariri-Shoco that the male body is
stronger than the female, women have demonstrated a great power over their own
bodies. Although the cultural context is male dominant, when patriarchal conjugal
relationships are established among men and women, I found evidence, like the
decisions Dona Marieta and Dona Zezinha have taken for being without a man, that
show how women take decisions and have control over their own bodies. This control
relates also to the female reproductive body, which I will discuss in the following
chapter, when women have a knowledge from which they control their fertility
(through the menstrual blood control) and their sexual pleasure. Kariri-Shoco female
power is evident through female shamanic specialists‟ discourses, like those of Dona
257
Zezinha, Dona Chiquinha, Dulcilene, Baioca, and even Candara‟s, when he explains
conceived as part of women‟s bodily nature and related to bodily “força.” Thus,
menstrual bodily fluids (blood from menstruation and after delivery), and also bodily
fluids from sexual intercourse for both men and women, are directly associated with
women cannot become shamans, but they do demarcate the fact that women do not
become curandeiras (female curandeira shamans), or mestres, who open mesa rituals.
It does not determine that only men among the Kariri-Shoco may become shamans, as
Mota (1987) has pointed out. Male and female bodily fluids provide a different sense
of the body, and indicate that shamanic activities become dangerous and must not be
practiced. Thus, shamanic practices depend on the „closedness‟ of the body. Bodily
fluids that open the body are an impediment for shamanic ritual practices.
mulher. Although many women do not feel Dona do corpo, usually they heard about
“her” and/or they associate “her” with dor de mulher, as I describe in the following
chapter. Those concepts (Dona do corpo and dor de mulher) related to the Kariri-
specificity that characterizes the female body, which is marked with blood (female
258
embryo, menstrual cycle, post-delivery) and pain (through dor de mulher). Those
female corporeality and sexual difference. It is in the following chapter that I continue
259
CHAPTER VIII
The women used to dominate their husbands, the children do not respect
father and mother and were never punished. (Nantes [1709] 1979, 4). 103
discover how they have experiences with reproductive processes and female
surveys, interviewing a total of fifty Kariri-Shoco adult women. It was based on these
women who live inside and outside the reserve in Porto Real do Colégio as case
studies.
In the first section of this chapter, these surveys are discussed through data
that were organized in tables according to the use of the first (Appendix A) and
miscarriage), and the use of methods to avoid pregnancy are described. Then, in the
second section, I also describe in-depth data based on the second survey when
103
My transalion, “As mulheres costumavam dominar seus maridos, os filhos
não respeitam pai e mãe e nunca eram castigados” (Nantes [1709] 1979, 4).
260
interview schedule B was utilized. Thus, information about Kariri-Shoco women‟s
(using the expression “amarrar-o-facão” [“to tie up the big knife”]) are described and
discussed. In the third section, Kariri-Shoco women case studies are described,
pregnancy, pregnancy loss, and delivery. It is describing women case studies where
processes and female embodiment are approached. It is in the last section where data
The women are now submitted to their husbands and the children to their
fathers, who punish them with chibatas [whip], which did not happen before
(Nantes [1706] 1979, 17). 104
the chance to meet them and to collect and gather quantitative data about their
interview was conducted, I had the opportunity to ask and record more detailed
104
My translation, “As mulheres estão agora submissas aos maridos e as
crianças aos pais, que os castigam com chibatas, o que antes não acontecia” (Nantes
[1709] 1979, 17).
261
decided to elaborate and use in-depth interview schedule B with twenty-one other
women, which I explain after I present the results of the first survey conducted among
Because in Portuguese there is only one word aborto, that can mean both
aborto/miscarriage (or the expression pregnancy loss) in tables and within the text,
women have experienced. I will deal with this issue later. For now, I decided to leave
them as open data, which includes both possibilities of miscarriage and abortion.
directed to find out how many pregnancies each interviewee had experienced, if any
gather information about infant mortality. My concern with infant mortality was
based on high rates of infant deaths that had occurred in Northeast Brazil (Scheper-
105
In this interview schedule A, I included a question where I asked the
interviewee if she used methods to avoid pregnancy (question 7). I discovered later
that by using the verb to avoid (evitar), the interviewees often understood that I was
asking if they used birth control pills. I discovered that the expression “to avoid
pregnancy” is implicitly related to the use of biomedical contraceptives. In interview
schedule B, I used a question directed to contraceptive use (question 6) and explained
to each interviewee that I was asking if she used something in order “not to become
pregnant.” This provided a better question about their indigenous contraceptives use.
262
Table 4. Pregnancy, Aborto/Miscarriage, Contraception, Tubal Ligation and
Infant Mortality (Survey 1)
Age 21-40 41-60+
N (%) N (%)
*Women Registered
Who Had Tubal
6 35 1 8
Ligation
Total 17 12
*During Survey 1, information about women who had tubal ligation was registered
from question 7 (Appendix A), when they explained that did not use methods to avoid
pregnancy because they had tubal ligation.
This first structured interview schedule (A), which is a simpler one, revealed
that all women interviewed had experienced pregnancy and had children. This survey
shows that older women have experienced more pregnancies and have had more
children, and younger women have experienced fewer pregnancies. For example, the
263
number of children of women over age 51 shows that most of them had more than ten
pregnancies (only one had eight children), while twelve fertile women between ages
21 and 40 showed different profiles: five (most of them are more than age 30) had
two children, four women had three or four children, while two had five and six
children, and only one, at the age of 31, had ten children. This data suggests that
younger women have had more control over fertility, particularly considering that
several women between age 31 and 40 have had only two children.106
Table 4 also shows that seven percent of reproductive women (between ages 21
to 40) were pregnant at the time of interview.107 Table 4 indicates a high proportion of
women, which has more or less equally happened among all ages of fertile women,
including those who are postmenopausal and above age 41 (fifty-eight percent).
About the use of contraceptive methods, this table shows that thirty-five percent of
reproductive women (particularly those between ages 21 and 30) were using methods
106
Citele, Souza and Portella (1998) discuss the fact that the Brazilian
birthrate has dropped considerably in the last few decades, where women “dealt with
reproduction in a context of limited male participation, through irregular use of oral
contraceptives [few available through the public system], without adequate
assistance, and through high demand for sterilization and clandestine abortion”
(Citele, Souza and Portella 1998, 60). Citele, Souza and Portella (1998) mention that
several studies since the end of 1970s have tried to understand this demographic
change focusing on multiple factors, but in none of these studies is the drop of the
birthrate associated with implementation of Brazilian policy on control over women‟s
fertility; on the contrary, those studies have shown the lack of governmental
“regulation of fecundity,” where the Brazilian government had not provided
necessary assistance (Citele, Souza and Portella 1998, 60).
107
Actually according to their age ranges, no fertile woman above between
age 31 and 40 was pregnant in this first survey.
264
to avoid pregnancy when I conducted the interview, while an additional thirty-five
Although, among the younger women only one 26 year old woman had a child
who died, eight women older than age 41 had experienced infant mortality (Table 4).
This data on infant mortality shows that two-thirds of the women above age 41 had
experienced infant death, which suggests that infant mortality has sharply decreased,
poverty, infant mortality has decreased. During the nine months of fieldwork only one
case of infant death happened, and it was a newborn child with health problems.
Total 12 9
experienced their first period. Although forty-four percent of women above age 41
108
The semi-structured interview schedule B has questions where I distinguish
contraceptive methods‟ use and tubal ligation. During interview schedule A, I have
registered whenever the interviewee had tubal ligation and that is why I present these
data separately.
265
did know about menarche before they had experienced it, all women above age 51
reported that they only learned about menstruation when they started to menstruate.
Thus, this data suggest that menarche has only recently been discussed with teenagers
schedule B, was to confirm information that I discovered about seeds that Kariri-
Shoco women use, following their mother‟s or grandmothers‟ advice, in order to have
menstruation last only three days. I registered among reproductive women that four
had used seeds to have three days of menstruation, among whom one told me that the
treatment did not work for her, since she has menstruation for five days. In addition,
four women older than age 41 reported that they have used seeds when they first
About data on pregnancy loss, Table 5 shows that ten reproductive women
women above age 41 (seventy-eight percent) had also experienced pregnancy losses.
close to both groups of women. Fifty percent of women in reproductive ages had
tubal ligation, while thirty-three percent above age 41 had also had tubal ligation.
Data registered in this second survey suggests that while reproductive women opt for
tubal ligation as a birth control method, according to their family plan to have two or
three children, women above age 41 usually have had tubal ligation when diagnosed
266
Among the total of seventeen women (reproductive and above age 41) who
had used contraceptives, eleven had used indigenous contraceptives through “bush
remedies” made of medicinal plants, and one of these women explained about oil
extracted from an animal that was effective as a contraceptive. Most of these women
explained that drank a “tea” before or after having sexual intercourse, others that they
drank a “tea” or a “bottled” remedy “to make the blood come down.” Six
reproductive women explained that they had used birth control pills, and one told me
that her partner was using condoms. Two reproductive women who had had tubal
ligation reported that they had never used birth control pills before they opted for
tubal ligation, and an elderly woman interviewed said that she had never used any
contraceptive method.
In this second interview schedule (B), I asked more details about their
sensitive issue, I will leave it as open data rather than analyze specific data on how
Kariri-Shoco women reported their experiences with pregnancy loss. Thus, I present
general data and provide my understandings on this issue. Usually after they
(startle), not realizing a desejo (desire) to eat something, raiva (anger), or an accident
(like the case of a seven month pregnant woman who fell off a bicycle and had a
pregnancy loss). The cases of startle were reported in situations where women
suddenly experienced a frightening moment. One woman told that she had an
267
aborto/miscarriage after she witnessed her father-in-law argue and hit her husband.
Another situation described was related to a dog that barked and threatened to bite a
situation that may cause a pregnancy loss. Two women reported that they had an
aborto/miscarriage after they felt “anger” during disputes with their husbands. Very
often, experience of pregnancy loss is related to a “desire” that was not satisfied;
something. One woman told me that she saw pieces of a cooked fish in garbage by
the sidewalk of the street where she lives, and wished to eat it, but because it was in
the garbage she did not take it. She explained that she “felt that desire” for a few
days, and then had an aborto/miscarriage because it was not realized. Although most
of those cases happened in the first months of pregnancy, I observed that they usually
explain a pregnancy loss (miscarriage or abortion) when I asked if they had an aborto,
used strong bitter remedies made from medicinal plants with the intention to interrupt
a pregnancy. Although I registered three cases where women used a drug called
“Cytotec” (which is a pharmaceutical drug for ulcers that has an abortive effect) to
induce abortion,109 I have noticed that when a remedy made from medicinal plants is
used, their perception relates more to the experience of miscarriage, rather than
109
Leal (1997) conducted research among working class women in sourthern
Brazil and reported that the drug Cytotec has been “massively diffused” (Leal 1997,
166) among those women.
268
induced abortion. I observed that they consider it an abortion when they have a
pregnancy loss as a consequence of the use of a biomedical drug, or when they need
women are close to the third month or more at a advanced stage of pregnancy). Those
experiences suggest that their understanding is more related to the legal aspects of
abortion.
Shoco women often use the expression “to make the blood come down” (“fazer o
sangue descer”), which means to induce menstruation through the use of medicinal
plants, which they conceive as regulating their menstrual cycle. Because this
following table.
17 12 12 9
Total
269
*Although both interview schedules (A and B) have a question about methods to
prevent pregnancy, in the first survey I used a question (number 7) about methods of
avoiding pregnancy, while in the second survey, I asked a direct question (number 6)
about contraceptive use.
In Table 6, I describe data from both interview schedules (A and B), where
ten percent of Kariri-Shoco women older than age 21, it can only be considered an
40.
higher in Survey 2. This happened because, although it was given to a smaller group
of women, during interviews I asked about their use of remedies “to make the blood
come down” when they suspected being pregnant. The use of contraceptive methods
eighty-eight percent of women older than age 41 in the second survey described their
surveys demonstrate that mostly reproductive women have opted for tubal ligation, in
the second survey a higher rate of those over age 41 was registered at thirty-three
registered, but they do not appear on tables, that three more were willing to have tubal
ligation, of whom one did not have it because her husband opposed it.
relate more to miscarriage experiences, when they also experience a pregnancy loss
270
related to the decision to induce menstruation (“to make the blood come down”).
obtained, particularly during the second survey, after I asked if they had taken any
remedy “to make the blood come down,” which they often answered affirmatively.
Thus, in several cases I understood that they considered their experiences of “making
the blood come down” as their regulation of the menstrual cycle, which I had
One woman older than 41 told me she never took a remedy to make “the
blood come down” after three months of pregnancy. In this case, she consciously
interrupted different pregnancies before the third month using medicinal plants that
she knew could interrupt a pregnancy. These experiences she reported were
ambiguous, and it seemed that she had experienced miscarriages, which I understood
as induced abortions. In several cases of women who “made the blood come down,”
they took a remedy very early, sometimes a few days after they had sexual
intercourse, when they suspected that they could have become pregnant. I also
registered more than one case of women who decided to interrupt a pregnancy and
registered one case of a woman, who has always lived outside the reserve, who took a
“bottle” remedy to induce abortion when she was already eight months pregnant and
she delivered a dead fetus. Although those are exceptional cases, still they suggest
that the decision to induce menstruation and, therefore, to induce a miscarriage, can
occur at any stage of pregnancy. I registered other cases where, although women were
271
and were satisfied when their attempt did not work. Usually it is understood that the
fetus has “a goodness” (“uma bondade”) that does not allow it to come out from their
mother‟s belly before the right time. Diana, who is one of case studies that describe
have the experience with this kind of treatment that several reproductive women
mentioned. I asked two different shamanic specialists which remedy I should use for
medicinal plants. Dona Maria Velha gave me a fourth plant and told me that I should
add it to the other ones for the treatment, and I did not hesitate to accept her advice. I
was surprised when I had my menstruation on the fifth day after drinking and bathing
myself daily during three days with this remedy. When I talked to those shamanic
specialists about this, they explained that it was normal and good that I had my
period, since it was a natural cleansing of everything inside. About the treatment, they
had told me before that one of the plants had a powerful effect of “making the blood
come down,” that I should know if I was not pregnant. Since I knew that I was not
medical treatment. Although I had been told about the effect of the remedy, I was
“make the blood come down” is effective, since I only used one of those plants that
induce menstruation and experienced menstruation. There are several different kinds
272
of plants to induce menstruation, which have abortive effects. The way “bush”
remedies are prepared, by combination of plants, influences how strong and effective
those remedies can be, which may induce abortion. I recognize that Kariri-Shoco
women, from what I heard about their experiences in using these remedies, mostly do
From their experiences with medicinal plants, the Kariri-Shoco people hold
the notion that each plant has an owner (“dono”) as a spiritual being. I understand that
the abortive effect of the remedy depends on the decision of the “owner of the plant”
Shoco women‟s experiences when they use one medicinal plant (or a combination of
several plants) to induce menstruation. Each plant has an owner, who is a spiritual
being who decides about the effect of the remedy. Thus, their notion proceeds when
they use a remedy to “make the blood come down,” which they take to menstruate. If
the “blood comes down,” they may have a miscarriage if they were pregnant.
In most cases that I registered, Kariri-Shoco women explained that the use of
“bush remedies” was related to their suspicions about missing their period. The
Thus, several examples registered show that their notion of regulating their menstrual
cycle, by making the “blood come down” through the use of a “bush remedy,” was
very often not considered as an interruption of a pregnancy per se, but as their will to
regulate their menstrual cycle, through the decision of “the owner of the plant.”
the use of contraceptive methods. In the first schedule (Appendix A), Kariri-Shoco
273
reproductive women usually understood that I was asking about biomedical
contraceptive methods, particularly the use of birth control pills. That is the reason
why most of the women reported that they were not using methods to avoid
pregnancy in the interview schedule A (Table 4), when only thirty-five percent of
5). It was after I found out about the use of medicinal plants “to make the blood come
down” that I decided to ask if they had ever used methods to menstruate, whether
Regarding contraceptive use in Brazil, the medical doctor, Olinda Luiz, and
contraceptive use in Brazil are very close to the rates of use in First World countries.
What differs in the Brazilian case is that the uses of birth control pills and sterilization
(tubal ligation) have been the most frequently chosen options of Brazilian women.110
According to the authors, the recognition of “the complexity that involves social facts
related to sterilization” has led to changes in “legal” procedures. They mention that
the Ministry of Health regulated norms for public health assistance based on a “Law
110
Based on qualitative research conducted in Pernambuco (Northeast), Rio
de Janeiro and São Paulo (Southeast) among poor urban and rural women workers,
Citele, Souza and Portella (1998) analysed a “denaturalization of processes which
involve reproduction” (Citele, Souza and Portella 1998, 74) that the women
researched went through, controlling and deciding their reproductive processes. They
show that sterilization combines “women‟s desire to not have more children and
contributes to their better health” (Citele, Souza and Portella 1998, 74). This study
illustrated the suffering that women encounter with experiences with reproduction
and control of their fertility. The authors point out that, while the oral contraceptive
method has side effects that have caused Brazilian women to suffer with health
problems, “reproduction has been widely experienced as a health problem” (Citele,
Souza and Portella 1998, 74).
274
of Family Planning” of 1996, “Bills 144/97 and 48/99” (Luiz and Citele 2000) that
consider that the Brazilian government‟s delay in providing birth control policies
through public biomedical assistance demonstrates that the state has exercised power
over women‟s fertility, where the naturalization of the female body as the locus for
with women‟s demands for contraception. From qualitative data collected during field
“making the blood come down”), which may imply pregnancy loss. Tubal ligation
and the use of birth control pills have also been, to a lesser extent, options that they
have taken.
that sterilization in Bom Jesus had become “the preferred form of birth control among
like abortion, “as a serious mortal sin by the Catholic church” (Scheper-Hughes 1992,
336). She observed that sterilization was, after delivery, the most widely used
poor Catholic women, who after several pregnancies, would “decide to put an end to
reproductive years” (Scheper-Hughes 1992, 336) through sterilization, and that the
only problem was their difficulties in paying the costs of surgery, which could be
275
Hughes (1992) observes that the doctors “expressed no qualms about sterilization”
(Scheper-Hughes 1992, 336) once the woman “had demonstrated her „good gender
336-337)
in Brazil, and several cases that I have observed among the Kariri-Shoco and other
indigenous areas (among Catholics), I do not perceive that religion has actually
exercised power over the control of contraceptive use in Brazil. Although the
sterilization or the use of other contraceptive methods, such as birth control pills
believe that the Catholic Church has had somewhat more influence in the case of
abortion decisions, which remains an illegal option in Brazil. Even considering that
the Catholic Church and the Brazilian government condemn the practice of abortion,
it has still been a widespread birth control option and is the third largest cause of
111
Abortion has been the third direct obstetric cause of maternal deaths.
Since 1940 Brazilian legislation established that induced abortion is a crime and it is
only allowed in circumstances in which a woman‟s life is at risk with the pregnancy,
or if the pregnancy is a consequence of sexual violence, such as rape. According to
data on a report about abortion in Brazil, it is estimated that 1.4 million abortions
occur annually in Brazil under clandestine circumstances (Henshaw, Singh and Hass
1999). The Ministry of Health notes that more than 250,000 women are hospitalized
with health problems from clandestine abortions annually (Sanematsu 1998). Thus, in
Brazil abortion is a serious contemporary public health problem. This information
shows that induced abortion, which is widely practiced, is, particularly for poor
276
Contrasting with medical doctors‟ discourse from “Bom Jesus” that Scheper-
Hughes described (1992), Luiz and Citeli (2000) revealed data on the difficulties that
women who opt for sterilization face in order to obtain this assistance through the
public health system. The authors mention that in order to analyse the impact of the
services from 37 hospitals that provide the service in the municipal region of São
Paulo. The authors recognized high technological quality of the health services, but
there were “obstacles in applying the law,” where there is “culture of resistance to
sterilization among medical doctors and other health professionals.” Luiz and Citeli
arguments that medical doctors use, where they disagree with the minimal age
established by law and argue that women may regret their decision, once it is an
irreversible option. The authors then, based on several studies about women‟s
women with sterilization was between 11 percent to 20 percent, which indicated that
out of five women, four were satisfied with their sterilization decision. Thus,
according to Luiz and Citeli (2000) the medical doctors‟ argument does not justify
their “systematic refusal to follow what law establishes” (Luiz and Citeli 2000, n/a)
women, the most risky option (since in their circumstances, abortions do not
necessarily follow biomedical procedures).
277
From these data, it is evident that in the contemporary Brazilian context, there
is a dispute between biomedical power and state power over women‟s (in)fertility
control. It seems that what has been more subject to surveillance is not women‟s
fertility per se, but women‟s infertility option control, in which the female body has
confrontation. The high rate of Brazilian population growth has dropped considerably
in the last few decades as a consequence of women‟s control over their fertility, with
options through arbitrary and non-legislated circumstances. It was one of the reasons
for extremely increased rates for women to opt for caesarean deliveries, which
became a vehicle for sterilization during delivery. This biomedical practice led to a
reproductive health problem in Brazil, because of the higher health risks of caesarean
restrictions when it is performed during caesarean delivery. It is also required that the
individual has to have at least two (living) children or be more than 25 years old (and
service” about contraceptive methods, and also to have the consent of the companion,
in the case of conjugal union (Luiz and Citelle 2000). Thus, it is these norms of
sterilization that medical doctors have „resisted‟ following, in which women can opt
278
selected as method of birth control in context of the majority of poor Brazilian
women, relates to how they have negatively experienced reproduction (with several
undesired pregnancies), and associated health problems (from the use of birth control
pills, the consequences of clandestine abortions, and others). Sterilization can then be
considered as a radical decision resulting from the pressures to bear many children,
which some Brazilian women choose not to follow, and thus, it is a matter of
resistance. I particularly believe that it will become the most used birth control
method option among Brazilian women, without its institutionalization (which has
only very recently been available as a birth control procedure through the public
health care system). It has been the second most widely used contraceptive method by
women in Brazil.
Brazilian culture. Parry Scott (1996), who has studied the development of the
(Pernambuco), found that male and female strategies are basically different
concerning representations and experiences of the reality of the home (“casa”), where
it is expected that women actively control, while the men present the “home” as
“under control” (Scott 1996, 291). I agree with Scott‟s (1996) observation, because in
several studies (DaMatta 1985; Scheper-Hughes 1992; Victoria 1995, 1997), and
formation for most Brazilian women” (Scott 1996, 291) where constructs of “self-
evaluation” status and “articulation with the world „rua‟ [street]” is established (Scott
279
responsibilities and pressures on their reproductive function and domestic sphere.
the domestic sphere is reinforced as the female space, on the other hand, it is a control
women assume through their bodies for not continuing to procreate when the power
decision usually related to their option to have one or two children, which has become
a desirable family size in all social classes in Brazil (Scheper-Hughes 1992), but
which women from middle and upper classes have been able to control. Although I
discussed above indicate that they often opt for a family size of two or three children.
women‟s reproduction in New York City, and shows how tubal ligation is an option
women exercise in order to free themselves from economic and political oppression,
sterilization and state encouragement (whose fertility is a burden for the United States
government because they depend on welfare), differs considerably from the Brazilian
case. Only very recently, the „right‟ of sterilization was approved in Brazil by the
public health system, which demonstrates that the Brazilian government has not
implemented policy on control over women‟s fertility.112 Thus, I do not consider that
112
According to the Ávila (1992, 16) there is “an official and medical
discourse on blaming the lack of accurate information about the correct use of
contraceptive methods” (Ávila 1992, 16). Ávila (1992) points out that the Brazilian
280
the Brazilian government have encouraged sterilization, nor in a lesser degree do the
abortion either with the use of “herbs, berries, nuts, roots” (Scheper-Hughes (1992,
abortive methods was more related to regulation or control of menstrual cycle rather
have observed that they have different experiences with pregnancy loss. Whenever
they make use of “bush” remedies, it is often expressed as an option to regulate the
menstrual cycle. In three cases where I registered Kariri-Shoco women who made use
women, who are reproductive case studies, say they explicitly regret their decisions.
On the other hand, those cases of women who shared with me their experiences of
using “bush” remedies because they knew that were pregnant, when they were
women exercise a power over their reproductive body, which also includes their
control over menstrual blood fluxes. Sterilization (tubal ligation) for women is the
option of reproductive disability, which much more than abortion (that only involves
biomedical knowledge use, according to Citele, Souza and Portela (1998) a new
Portella 1998, 75). I consider that data registered during field research about tubal
ligation may suggest that this new naturalized biological cycle pattern has influenced
Kariri-Shoco women‟s decision for tubal ligation. Still, I do not have sufficient data
significant since there are women who are planning to have it despite their awareness
of those who chose it and who have experienced consequences, in that they report
how it has interfered with their sexual desire and/or menstrual cycle. As already
mentioned, I consider that Kariri-Shoco women have control over their fertility, on
the basis of data that shows that younger women have had less children. This control
282
There is a high rate of experience with abortos/miscarriages in both surveys, and to a
It is through the case studies in the last section that I continue to discuss and
women, where the expression “to tie up the big knife” (“amarrar o facão”) is used,
and experiences and perceptions on other emic expressions related to what they call
“dor de mulher” and the “Dona do corpo,” which I have already mentioned when
283
Table 7. In-Depth Questions about “Dor de Mulher” and Knowledge about the “Dona
do Corpo” (Survey2):
Age 21-40 41-60+
N (%) N (%)
Total 12 9
* The question 10 in interview schedule B asked if the interviewee had felt or heard
about Dona do corpo. During the interview I registered whenever the woman had or
had not felt it. That is the reason why I have decided to present this information
separately.
women above age 41 (eighty-nine percent) reported that they had experienced dor de
mulher. They usually explained that “dor de mulher” is a pain they feel or felt inside
their belly before or after delivery, when they menstruate, or during pregnancy. Some
of them also feel “dor de mulher” in different parts of their body, such as in their legs,
women interviewed, told me that they felt “her,” especially after delivery, while nine
(seventy-five percent) of these reproductive women, had heard about the “Dona do
284
corpo,” but had never felt her. Among women older than 41, six women (sixty-seven
percent), said that the “Dona do corpo” was mostly felt. While nine (seventy-five
percent) reproductive women told me that they had heard about “her,” although they
had never felt the “Dona do corpo,” three (thirty-three percent) older women had also
One of the three reproductive women who had felt the “Dona do corpo” inside
her body, described that “she grows with the child inside the belly” (“ela cresce junto
com a criança dentro da barriga”) and that “she walks inside the body” (“ela anda
dentro do corpo”). Women interviewed usually associated the “Dona do corpo” with
“dor de mulher,” because “she provokes pain” (“ela provoca dor”) especially after
delivery when “she searches for the baby inside the belly” (“ela procura pela criança
dentro da barriga”). They often reported that they “felt a round thing” (“uma coisa
redonda”) like a “round cake” (“um bolo”) or an “orange” (“uma laranja”), which
moves inside their belly. Some women also explained that they could even hear “her”
making a sound like a “roar” inside their belly after delivery. Several women, even
those who had never felt the “Dona do corpo” inside them, considered that the “Dona
do corpo” can walk inside the woman‟s body and, if she gets out of the body, the
woman dies, because no woman can live without the “Dona do corpo” inside her
body.
expression “to tie up the big knife” (“amarrar o facão”) in interview schedule B was
a way to hear their explanations about whether they had already experienced
285
menopause or what they knew about it (when they had not experienced menopause
yet). Among these twenty-one women interviewed, four gave me explanations about
their experiences with menopause. One of them, a married woman of 53 told me, “I
have already tied up the big knife [„eu já amarrei o facão‟] and now I am like a male
[„e agora eu tô como um macho‟].” After I asked her why she became like a male, she
explained that this happened because she does not menstruate anymore, and because
she does not have children anymore. Among the other three post-menopausal
women, one who was separated from her husband explained that she became more
“fogosa,” while two married women reported that they had less sexual interest in their
husbands after menopause. During these interviews, when I asked them, even for the
ones who were not post-menopausal, if they knew about any change when a woman
“ties up the big knife” (“amarra o facão”), they usually mention that the woman
changes. I noticed that the advent of menopause for them seems related to a sex-
gender identity change, when they become similar to man. I have understood that
associated with sexual practices and desire, since they very often report that women
lose sexual interests for their husbands, and do not feel sexual desire like they did
Once I asked to Dona Maria Velha if man had also menopause, she answered
that they do not have, “Because he is closed, he doesn‟t have blood in his belly to
provoke pain!” She also told me, “When he comes to bleed, it is because he is very
sick inside with a venereal disease.” Thus, from her point of view, menopause is
associated with female‟s menstrual blood and „closedness‟ after a woman stops
286
having the menstrual cycle. Then Dona Maria Velha continued speaking about female
menopause:
“When the woman comes to the menopause the fire [excitement] diminishes
more because it is related to the blood.”
One woman of 68 who was interviewed, when she said that she noticed “a big
change” in her body after she “tied up the big knife,” explained a similar perception
“A woman becomes male because who commands [as who is in control of the
body] is the blood! A woman who tied up the big knife [amarrou o facão]
serves [has sexual intercourse] her husband, but she doesn‟t have the pleasure
that she used to have anymore.”
is very much intertwined, among Kariri-Shoco women, with sexual desire. Most of
women who had had tubal ligation told me that they had noticed “changes”
(“mudanças”), which mostly refer to menstrual cycle (more or less blood fluid fluxes
explained that they started to feel less sexual desire after they had had tubal ligation.
from interview schedules (A, B) conducted among the total of fifty women. While I
reproductive experiences and perceptions of the female body, I started to select case
studies from those with whom I had established more significant contacts,
287
selection. As I became closer to selected case studies, several private and sensitive
issues were shared with me, as we also shared friendship. Although I made an effort
to gather systemic qualitative data about their experiences for comparative purposes, I
I decided to show Table 3 again, which was already presented in Chapter IV, to
provide more details about the Kariri-Shoco women selected as case studies. These
were code-named with fictive English names, organized in alphabetical order from
the oldest to the youngest one. According to my research proposal, I planned to select
nine adult women as case studies, but during field research I decided to add three
288
additional cases who, although they identify themselves and are identified by others
live in the Porto Real do Colegio town. They maintain close relationships with Kariri-
Shoco relatives (like aunts, uncles, cousins) who live in the reserve Sementeira area.
These three women use the Sementeira clinic health assistance, and also they often
use rezador/rezadeira or curandeiro shamans for indigenous health care. The reason
why they do not attend Ouricuri rituals is mostly related to their father, mother,
grandfather or grandmother, who did not participate in the Ouricuri and did not care
to send them to a relative who did participate and who could take them to Ouricuri
when they were children. All three women said they usually feel sorry that they do
The twelve case studies I selected from Kariri-Shoco women with diversified
114
During the field research I observed cases of children who had only one
Kariri-Shoco parent who brings the child to this ritual, although the parents are
married to or separated from a non-indigenous person who does not participate in the
Ouricuri ritual. Thus, in mixed marriages (when one of the spouses is not Kariri-
Shoco and does not participate in the Ouricuri ritual), the other parent brings their
children to this ritual. I met a nine year old girl who lived with her non-indigenous
mother in Porto Real do Colegio town, whose mother had let her go to the Ouricuri
since she was a baby with her Indian father (who was married to a Kariri-Shoco
woman). The three women I mentioned above, who were case studies, did not have
parents who attended the Ouricuri ritual. In these cases, they could have been brought
to the Ouricuri by an uncle, aunt, grandfather, or grandmother.
289
- Four were pregnant (Ema, Julie, Lila, Marian).
During field research, of the three fertile but not pregnant women case studies,
one became pregnant (Ina) and another only discovered her pregnancy when she was
already more than three months pregnant (Faye). Thus, the research involved a total
of six pregnant women, four of whom began lactating after delivery (Faye, Julie, Lila,
Marian) when I conducted field research. Two of the pregnant women had tubal
ligations (Ema, Faye) after they delivered, while two others intended to have tubal
ligations (Ina, Julie). Among the case studies, only one fertile woman did not use any
contraceptive method (Diane). Christie told me that for more than twenty years she
had unsuccessfully tried to become pregnant, and this is the reason why she suspected
this section in a more descriptive but distant way, instead of presenting details about
our friendships, as I did when I described the shamanic specialists in the Chapter V.
Most of these women became close and good friends of mine. Some details about
I use Avila‟s (1992) explanation, which she describes as women‟s responsibilities and
care of family health, and husband‟s needs. All Kariri-Shoco women whom I met,
their homes. These duties relate to cooking and housekeeping, taking care of children
290
and husband, protecting the health of the family, and being available to their
husbands for sexual intercourse. Most of these women explain that as a wife they
have to fulfill the husband‟s needs. Thus, I consider that they are immersed within a
Ribeiro 1978; 2000), where much of their activities and responsibilities relate to the
domestic sphere where man (father, partner, or husband) have had it under control.
Kariri-Shoco women usually marry very early. The formality of marriage may
vary; some even at the present time get married or run away with a boyfriend when
they are still teenagers. For example, in several cases when I asked the question
(using interview schedules A and B) if they were married, usually if they had no
answered that they were not married, although they had been living for a long time
with the same partner. In these cases, usually they are considered amigada, which is a
pejorative term used for a woman within a common law relationship. Amigada was
the status of five cases studies, which I registered in Table 3 (Ema, Hilda, Ina, Lila,
Among these women who were living in a common law situation, only the
youngest ones (Lila, Marian) were engaged with their first partner with whom they
291
had lost their virginity.115 Other cases studies (Ema, Hilda, Ina) in a common law
situation were living with a man who was their second or third partner.
The first case study (Ann) is a post-menopausal woman who explained that
although she noticed that she has changed after menopause, because she has less
sexual desire, she still is satisfied with having sexual intercourse with her husband.
She told me that she married a man who was very close to her family, and particularly
to her father. He started to be interested in her while she did not consider him as a
possible husband. She explained that he was her boyfriend although he never touched
her. When he was building a house for them to live in after marriage, she decided to
ask her father to tell him that she was not interested in him, although she knew that
her father liked him very much. Ann told me that although her father tried to convince
her, saying how important it was to marry a man as responsible as her boyfriend, she
decided not to get engaged to him. She explained to me that she “could not stand
him,” that she got “enjoada” (“feeling nausea”) with him. After her father told her
boyfriend that his daughter did not want to marry him, he became very desperate, and
even wanted to take his own life. Thus, after she was informed about that, she went to
see him. I found this amazing, because she told me that after she saw him doing
“something” (“uma coisa”) related to his shamanistic knowledge, she told me that she
could not resist and accepted his will to get married. She says that she does not regret
her decision, and that they became very close and have already been married more
115
The expression “to lose the virginity” (“perder a virgindade”) or “she has
lost herself” (“ela se perdeu”), are often used as expressions which mean that the
woman is not a virgin anymore.
292
than forty years. Her husband has always been very responsible, and has always
method with the use of oil extracted from a male animal. She explained that she
prepared and drank one tablespoon twice a day of this oil for six months, which
worked as a contraceptive that lasted for five years. She explained that this is why she
had no pregnancy for five years. Although she never took any remedy to “make the
blood come down,” she knew several cases of women who had She said she never
had a pregnancy loss, and that all her deliveries were normal although she felt lots of
pain during delivery. Ann said that during her deliveries she always had the help of a
midwife, that her husband was present and that he buried the placenta in their
placenta. Ann explained, “First, the child is born” and then it is when “the delivery
comes out” (“o parto sai”) and “the delivery happens” (“o parto acontece”), referring
After all her deliveries Ann was very careful with her resguardo
(confinement), which she explained has certain rules women follow during one month
after delivery.117 Thus the rules of Ann‟s resguardo were related to kinds of food that
she could not eat (birds, some kinds of fish, pork) and also avoiding activities, such as
carrying anything heavy, bending down for housekeeping activities, not walking
116
This information was mentioned also in an ethnographic interview
described in section 6.1, when I explained how Frederico used the cover term
despachar to refer to menstrual blood fluxes.
117
I translate resguardo as confinement because it is the post-delivery period
when a health care regimen related to forbidden food and activities are followed.
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around with bare feet, and especially not having any sexual intercourse with her
husband. During the resguardo, which lasts one month after delivery, it is a time
when the woman‟s body is opened. Ann explained to me that if you “quebra”
(“break”) the resguardo by not following health care of the body after delivery, you
can have “horrible consequences,” and even “death” might happen. She explained
that sometimes the consequences could “last for the rest of a woman‟s life,” making
her “become often sick, nervous,” and vulnerable to catch diseases. She told me that
everyday during the resguardo she drank a remedy made from medicinal plants with
which she also bathed herself, especially the lower part of her body. These procedures
helped to clean her and keep her healthy, avoiding any inflammation after delivery.
experiences with deliveries, explained that they followed their resguardo very
carefully, which is part of their health care after delivery. Usually the mother of a
woman under resguardo comes to her daughter‟s home and helps with housekeeping
Ann complained that she always felt “dor de mulher,” which sometimes
affects her legs and intestines. She also told me that she felt the “Dona do corpo”
during all pregnancies and that after delivery she used to touch her belly and feel
“her” searching for the child. She said that the “Dona do corpo” was “round like the
size of an orange.” When I asked her once if she continued feeling her even after
menopause, she told me that, recently, she had a problem of a very strong pain in her
belly, and that was the “Dona do corpo.” Ann said, when she was walking back
home, she had to stop by the river to defecate and wash herself, because when she
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feels “her” in the intestines she has to defecate quickly. When I asked her if it was
possible that “she” comes out of the body when “she” is in the intestines, Ann
answered, “No,” that this could not happen because “she lives inside the body” (“ela
vive dentro do corpo”). I questioned if it was not “dor de mulher” that she felt, and
she said, “They are the same,” because the “Dona do corpo” is responsible for “dor de
mulher.”
The second case study (Betty) is also a post-menopausal woman and married
for over forty years. She told me that when she met the man whom she married, he
used to have lots of girlfriends, and that he even had lived with different women
before they met. One day he came to her and asked if she wanted to marry him. She
said that he told her about how he used to be, and that with her he had all good
intentions and was willing to get married legally. Then she decided to marry him.
Betty told me that although her husband used to work very hard he had
already lost almost everything because of “the envy of others” (“a inveja dos
outros”). They used to have different houses, cows, and pigs. Among her children,
one had a problem that he caught from a terrible evil eye, which made him become
weak, lazy, and without strength to work. Her husband‟s loss of what they used to
have, she explained as “a curse” (“uma praga”) that was sent upon him and her
family.
Betty told me during interviews that she suffered a lot because after marriage
her husband continued to drink and to have other women. She said that she has
always suffered and that she still lived feeling insecure, particularly because, when
her husband drinks, “something bad can happen,” when he “gets out of control.” She
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is very faithful to her shamanistic prayers and knowledge from which she finds
“força.” I observed that she is daily concerned with problems related to family
members, which very often she attributes to others who have “envied” how wealthy
they used to be. Thus, the explanation she gives as to how they became poorer is
because of the “big eye” (“olho grande”) that “was put on her family.” One day she
told me who caused her son‟s health problem by cursing her family, since her father
argued with this powerful shamanic specialist a long time ago. That is the reason why
she follows very carefully her duties related to the Ouricuri ritual, which is the
strongest way to ward off the evilness that was sent to her family.
Betty had several pregnancies and she had an obstetric surgery, which I
understand was a hysterectomy, after which she stopped menstruating. Thus, she
mentions that she did not experience menopause. Despite Betty explanation that she
did not have menopause, she mentioned that after her surgery, when the doctor took
out everything inside her, she did not have sexual desire anymore, although she has
Betty had an infant death during a cesarean, when a tubal ligation was done
after she had been diagnosed as having a high-risk pregnancy. She blames the doctor
for what happened with her newborn, and told me that he killed her baby. Betty has
nine children and she had experienced an aborto/miscarriage, which she told me
happened when she was more than three months pregnant. She consciously decided to
make a remedy that she knew would induce menstruation. Remedies that induce
menstruation are ones made from plants which have a bitter taste, she explained. She
told me that she had the aborto/miscarriage when she was working in a rice field by a
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lake. When she felt that the fetus was coming down, while she was feeling strong
“dor de mulher,” she took and put the fetus into the lake. Betty described that her
decision to make and take the remedy related to how angry she felt with her husband
one day when he argued with her. She told me that she thought: “He [her husband]
thinks that I will have his child, I won‟t!” That is why she decided to drink the
remedy that she made to induce menstruation. She also told me that her husband did
not know that she was pregnant, nor about her decision to make and drink the
remedy. After the aborto/miscarriage, she finished her work in the rice field and went
back home. Because she continued to have strong hemorrhage and pain, she had to be
hospitalized. It was her husband who rented a car to take her to Propria‟s hospital,
and there they made a curettage on her and sent her home. She said that she followed
a resguardo and used medicinal plants to make sure she would be fine. Although her
husband suspected that she had a pregnancy loss, they never talked about it.
Betty explained that she always felt “dor de mulher.” About the “Dona do
corpo,” she only heard her mother tell about “her.” The dor de mulher she felt before
and during her deliveries, but sometimes she has headaches, which she explains as
The third reproductive woman (Christie) has had a stable marriage for over
twenty years. This case was interesting because she had only one child and, although
she wanted to have more children, she had never had another pregnancy. She said that
she never tried to use any indigenous treatment for infertility. 118 She did, however,
118
Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists treat female and male infertility.
Candara told me once how he uses medicinal plants for infertility, which he
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take several biomedical exams eight years ago, from which the doctor told her that
she did not have any fertility problem. Although the doctor suggested that her
husband should take some exams, she said that he never wanted to do so, and that is
why she does not know if he has a problem. From the interviews, I noticed that she
suspected that she was infertile, although the medical doctor told her that she was
normal.
because she said that she had had a constant inflammation in her womb, and the
specialist doctor used to prescribe a “cream” (“creme”) for her to use. Thus, she
discovered through exams that she had a “fibroma” (fibroid) in her womb, which
required surgical intervention. She does not believe that she can get pregnant
anymore, and her surgery was scheduled when the field research would be already
finished.
Christie married a man who was her first boyfriend when she was twenty-four
years old. It was after her first kiss that she decided that she had to marry him and
become his wife.119 She told me that she met and started to date him hidden from
everybody. Her parents liked him very much because he was a very hard worker,
prescribes to a couple (both husband and wife) who have problems on producing
offspring.
119
This was not the only Kariri-Shoco middle-aged woman who reported that
after the first kiss she felt that she had to get married to the boyfriend. One of the
female shamanic specialists told me that when she experienced the first kiss with the
man who became her husband, she was scared so much that she even became afraid
that she had become pregnant from the kiss. There are other examples similar to those
ones, when middle age women report their experiences with the first kiss as a reason
for engagement and as a frightening experience. During an ethnographic interview a
shamanic specialist explained uses the expression “to kiss the husband” explaining
about having sexual intercourse. Thus, there are possibility that the “first kiss” may
be a metaphor for first sexual intercourse.
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although he comes from a family without much education. She said that it was after
marriage when they had their first sexual intercourse that she became pregnant.
Christie told me that she used to feel “a lot of dor de mulher” (“muita dor de
mulher”) especially before and during menstruation when she was single. After she
gave birth, which happened in a hospital, she told me that she never felt it anymore.
When I asked her once about the “Dona do corpo,” she told me that “it was her,”
referring to the “dor de mulher” that she used to feel when she menstruated. She said
that she also felt the dor de mulher “on the hips” (“nos quartos”) before and after
delivery.
Diane, who is the fourth case study, told me that she married a man who has a
stable job and used to be a good husband and father. After ten years of marriage, he
started to have an affair with another woman and had children with her. Since then he
lives in both houses, and that is the reason why she fights with him and sometimes
tells him to take all his clothes and move to his “rapariga‟s [“bitch”] house and never
come back. I observed that it was very difficult for her to take this radical decision,
since she told me that if she really sent him away she would be letting him go to his
mistress, who would get all the advantages of her husband. Diane suffers enormously
with this situation because constantly he would not give her enough money to buy
Diane delivered all six of her children in Propria‟s hospital, where she
explained that she was “always afraid of dying.” She said that she “always felt dor de
mulher” on the “belly‟s foot” (“pé da barriga”), which means on the lower abdomen,
and also monthly “at the time” (“nas data”) of her menstruation. I found that her
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description of “dor de mulher” during delivery is similar to those provoked by the
“Dona do corpo,” when she described that she usually felt “a cake like this” (“um
bolo assim,” showing me that she felt like a small ball inside her belly). When I asked
her if she had ever felt the “Dona do corpo,” she explained that she had “heard about
Diane told me that she had three abortos/miscarriages, and one induced
abortion in the hospital because of a dead fetus. Her first aborto/miscarriage happened
because she had the desire to eat fish for several days and that, because this desire
was not satisfied, she lost the child. Diane explained that another miscarriage
happened because she used to be very sick (with “nausea,” “vomiting” and feeling
“weakness”) and that is why she had an aborto/miscarriage before two months of
pregnancy. A third pregnancy loss was caused by “a startle” (“susto”), when a car
almost hit her when she crossed a road. She told me that after this happened the fetus
“stayed dead” (“ficou morto”) inside her belly for about fifteen days. It happened
when she was seven months pregnant and she was hospitalized. She told me that a
remedy was given to her in the hospital, which made her have contractions and the
aborto/miscarriage. Diane also told me that she tried to induce menstruation during
two pregnancies, but because the children had “a goodness,” the “remedies never
worked.” She said that she only used birth control pills for one month during her
marriage. She attributes her lack of sexual desire to the problems she has with her
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husband‟s involvement with a mistress. Diane told me that she only has sexual
The fifth case study (Ema) has a partner who had already been married and
had children from his previous conjugal relationship. She also had children with a
first partner. Although she was living very well, I noticed that, because she became
involved with a man who already had a family, she had a negative status among
Kariri-Shoco women. I noticed that very often women mention that the worst thing a
woman can do is to get into a relationship with a married man. Thus, I observed that
while she could count on the help of closer relatives and friends, she was seen as a
woman who did not have the respect of other women, because she had engaged in a
Ema told me that her five pregnancies were always normal, and that she
always chose to give birth in hospitals. It was in the last pregnancy that she had a
caesarean delivery and a tubal ligation, since the doctor from the Sementeira health
clinic diagnosed her with a high-risk pregnancy. She also told me that she had never
experienced any aborto/miscarriage, and that she sometimes used birth control pills.
Ema told me that she had never felt either “dor de mulher” or the “Dona do
corpo,” although she knew about them. She said she had never “caught dor de
who has it sits on the bed of a woman who has recently delivered, when the post-
delivery woman has the body “opened.” Thus, because this never happened to her,
120
I often recorded Kariri-Shoco women using verbs such as “to look for”
(procurar) and “to care” (“cuidar”) when they refer to their husband‟s request for
sexual intercourse.
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she never felt or experienced “dor de mulher.” About the “Dona do corpo,” she told
me that she had heard from her mother, who told about “her,” but that she never
understood well what it was. She said that her mother used to tell her that if “she”
The sixth case study (Faye) is a woman who had experienced several conjugal
relationships with men older than herself, from whom she inherited houses. The first
child to whom she gave birth, was already an adolescent who had for a long time
lived with her sister in Porto Real do Colegio town. Her last child was born not long
before I finished the field research. She became pregnant while she was living with
her father on a farm where her father used to work. From what Faye told me about her
life, her father had abused her, and a young man with whom she had a conjugal
Although Faye was more than thirty years old, she was still living with her
father, who did not allow her to meet the man with whom she became pregnant. Faye
also told me that her father said that, if she had a baby girl, he would make her give
up the newborn for adoption. Faye is one of the case studies who lives in Porto Real
Faye had four pregnancies of which two were lost. She told me that her first
since she drank a “bottled” remedy that she prepared when she was already in an
advanced pregnancy. She told me that she stayed for two days with the fetus dead
inside her belly, and that she had the aborto/miscarriage at home, in the bathroom,
and buried the fetus in the backyard. Because she started to have hemorrhage, she was
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hospitalized to receive appropriate health care. She told me that she almost died. She
explained to me that she became pregnant by a man with whom she became involved.
It was an undesired pregnancy that she and her actual partner did not want to have
Regarding the other aborto/miscarriage, Faye said that it happened a long time
ago, when she was living with a man who was very mean to her every time he was
drunk. One day he got angry and hit her head with a chair when she was already
seven months pregnant. Because of the anger and fear she felt, Faye explained that
she started to feel lots of pain in her belly and went to the hospital where she
delivered the baby who died and she had curettage. After this experience, she decided
After the separation, Faye decided to come back to Porto Real do Colegio,
when she started to live and take care of her father, who began to control the rent that
she received from a house that she owns.121 She first lived in the country, where her
father worked for a farmer, and where she met the man by whom she became
pregnant. Because her father had a serious accident, which made him become unable
to work on the farm, he moved to the city with Faye to live in a rented house. Before I
finished my field research, Faye had a baby and her father was willing to move to
The father of Faye‟s baby was going to register their child, and she was
meeting him without her father knowing about it. Faye had a caesarian delivery after
which she also had a tubal ligation. She felt lots of “dor de mulher” during the
121
Another house that she used to own Faye gave to an ex-partner after they
separated.
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pregnancy and after delivery. After her child was born she was breastfeeding well and
stayed at her sister‟s house where she was getting help for health care during
resguardo.
The seventh case study (Gilda) has a conjugal relationship, although she has
had several separations. She told me that when she started to date the man who
became her husband, she was only fifteen years old. Although her father let her have
a boyfriend, one night her father was drunk and wanted to hit him. Therefore she ran
away with her boyfriend and they had sexual intercourse. They started to live with his
parents and she became pregnant. She told me that she suffered a lot because she did
not feel well either with his parents or with him. She mentioned that he did not treat
her well, and that is why she decided to go back to her father‟s house, where she
Gilda had her first child at home, where her grandmother helped to deliver her
baby. She said that her grandmother gave her little bit of salt to put under her tongue
and explained that would make everything come out from her belly, including the
placenta. She also said that her grandmother stayed behind her while Gilda sat in a
squat position on the bed and put her arms around her grandmother‟s neck when she
delivered the baby. Gilda explained that she felt the “Dona do corpo” only after this
first delivery. Her grandmother gave her a few seeds, which helped to avoid the pains
caused by “Dona do corpo.” Gilda told that it is incredible, because in both other
Then, after the baby was already more than one year old, the baby‟s father
came to her and asked her to live with him in a house where they could live together
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by themselves. Because they used to fight very often, she separated from him again.
After a while they started to meet and she became pregnant with her second son. She
told me that she had his second son by herself at home, while her mother and
grandmother went out to try to find a car to take her to the hospital. She said that it
was her neighbor who came to help her after she had delivered her baby. Gilda told
me that, after a time, she moved and lived again with her husband. Thus, her
relationship was marked by these separations, and at the time of the field research,
she complained that he did not take her out, and that sometimes he was rude with her
Gilda said that she had an aborto/miscarriage because her husband complained
whenever she got pregnant. She explained, “He could have been more careful… if he
did not want more children,” by not looking for her for having sexual intercourse. It
was from a woman from the city that Gilda obtained Cytotec pills to have an
aborto/miscarriage. Gilda said that she had doubt about using this biomedical drug.
She said that when she asked for the remedy from this woman she was a month
pregnant and, when she gave her the pills, she was already four months pregnant. It
was after her husband had a fight with her that she decided to use them. Thus, it was
an impulsive decision to put one pill inside her vagina, and to swallow the other one
in order to have an abortion.122 She told me that it was a baby boy, and she noticed
because she was already four months pregnant and she saw when she held him on her
hand. She regrets having had this aborto/miscarriage and she also blames the woman
122
I asked Gilda from whom she learned this procedure on using the Cytotec
pills (to swallow and put inside her vagina). She told me that “most of women here
they do that when they want to have an abortion,” but the woman who gave her the
pills explained how she should use them.
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who gave her the pills, telling me “she was mean to distribute an abortive drug.” She
had to go to the hospital after her pregnancy loss because of a hemorrhagic problem.
Gilda used medicinal plants to bathe and drink after she came back from the hospital
as a resguardo procedure.
Then, not a long time after her pregnancy loss, Gilda became pregnant and
had a baby girl. She told me that she suffered because her husband traveled to work in
a city in Southeast Brazil during the time that she was already more than eight months
pregnant. This last child she had in a hospital and told me that it was difficult because
she did not feel pain to give birth. Gilda explained that she decided to opt for tubal
ligation because of her husband. The tubal ligation caused a different menstrual cycle,
and she explained that now she menstruates more often than before. She regrets that
she had a tubal ligation because she wanted to have one or two more children. She
also explained that she regrets the tubal ligation because of the aborto/miscarriage she
had. Gilda is still a young woman in her twenties. Both aborto/miscarriage and tubal
ligation she attributes to impulsive decisions she took within the troubled relationship
The eighth case study (Hilda) is a woman who had an affair while she was still
married. Her lover became her partner and the father of her son. Her ex-husband does
not live in Porto Real do Colegio anymore, and she had four pregnancies when she
was still married to him. She said that he used to hit and treat her badly. Thus, she
explains that she does not regret that she was not faithful to her husband, because he
deserved it. She also told me that she started to date before her breasts started to
grow, when she was still a child. She said that when she became a teenager her father
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did not care about her dates, because for him the worst would be if she lost herself
with a boyfriend, thus she could fool around (namorar) dating without getting
intimate. Thus, when she met and dated for six months the man who became the
father of her children, she decided to run away with him by the time she was eighteen
years old. She said that he still loves her very much, but because of his drinking
problem, which made him beat her, she lost the love that she had for him. Thus, she
says that the lover she found was a punishment for her ex-husband.
Hilda said that her ex-husband used to drink a lot and she started to have an
affair and date her current partner when her husband was lying down drunk. She used
to kiss her lover in front of everybody. Then, she decided to separate from her
husband to live with her lover, who took care of her son when he was still a baby.
That is why she considers him her son‟s father, and actually the boy, who was six
years old by the time of the research, calls her partner “father.”
Hilda lives in a small village house in Porto Real do Colegio, where the
municipal government built houses and distributed them to people who needed a
house. As she applied for the house, she was able to obtain it. She usually fights with
her partner, because he likes to go out at night and comes back late after drinking.
Thus, she is very jealous of him, because she says that he is with the raparigas,
From the four pregnancies that Hilda experienced, only two children are alive.
One of her children she gave to her mother, and the youngest one she kept and raises
him with her partner. Although she gave her daughter to her mother, she still has
influence and a relationship as the mother of her child. She told me that she had a
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seven-month old infant who died because of health problems. She had experienced
also a seven-month premature delivery caused by susto, from which the baby did not
survive. She explained to me that she had serious problems with high-blood pressure
during pregnancies and that the doctor told her that she had eclampsia during
deliveries. Thus, all her deliveries were in hospitals, where she had to go under
special care. It was in the last pregnancy that she had a caesarian and decided to have
a tubal ligation. She told me that during pregnancies she used to be sick all the time,
and during all deliveries she “put [her] life at risk” (“arriscou a vida”). She explained
to me that she had used birth control pills for six months, but she decided that it
would be better to have tubal ligation, not only because of the problems she had
during deliveries, but because she was “a very nervous person,” and did not have
Hilda told me that since she had the tubal ligation, she noticed that she feels
less sexual desire, and that her menstrual cycle has been altered. Now she is
desregrada, which means that her menstrual cycle does not “come regularly.” She
says that sometimes she regrets having a tubal ligation because she misses having a
baby. Although she has a tubal ligation, Hilda suspects that she is pregnant
sometimes.
The ninth case study (Ina) is a woman who also suffered considerably with her
first partner. She even had a miscarriage from a frightening joke he did with her when
she was four months pregnant. She said that she fell in love with him when she met
him at an Ouricuri ritual, when he came to participate from another indigenous area.
After they met, it did not take long for him to move to Porto Real do Colegio, and
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they started to live together in a house that a friend lent to them in the Sementeira
reserve area. Because he was very “mulherengo” (“lady‟s man”), she could not stand
how unfaithful he was to her. She experienced four pregnancies with him, from
which she had three miscarriages. She told me that she never induced menstruation
and during her pregnancies she had always felt very sick, vomiting a lot in the first
months. Ina thinks that her miscarriages were all related to anger she felt about her
partner‟s behavior, and a susto when he put a lizard on her leg when she was four
months pregnant. It was only in this miscarriage that she had to go to the hospital,
After she separated from her partner, he went back to his indigenous area, and
she decided to leave her daughter with her mother while she went to another city,
where she worked in a house to get income to help her mother to raise her child. She
said that she had been very ill during this time, and had to come back to the reserve
where she looked for indigenous health treatment. The disease-illness that Ina caught
was related to an evilness, which was sent upon her by a shamanic specialist who was
sexually interested in her. Ina described her disease-illness as a health problem related
to “Indian‟s disease.”
It was during the field research that Ina established a conjugal relationship
with a man to whom she became attached. She said that it was a surprise when he
asked her suddenly if she wanted to live with him. She told me that because he used
to come to her parents‟ house, and was a friend of her brothers and sisters, she used to
like him, although she never thought that he could become her boyfriend. Because
she knew that he was a nice person, she started to date him and soon she accepted his
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will to live together. She was planning to take birth control pills, but before it
happened, when they were already living together, she became pregnant. During the
first months she constantly had morning sicknesses, headaches, and vomited very
often. She was very afraid that she could have an aborto/miscarriage, and after her
third month she had an ultrasound, which for her was the confirmation that her baby
was alive.
The tenth case study (Julie) is a single mother of three children and lives with
her parents and sisters. Julie had experienced a dangerous “doença de índio,” when
she was a teenager. She explained that she caught it from a very powerful male
shamanic specialist, who asked her to touch her breasts (when she was fourteen years
old) and she reacted against it by cursing his mother. Thus, she became severely sick
for several years during which she used to have convulsions, and “lose” (“perder”)
her head.
Julie had three children and one aborto/miscarriage. All her deliveries were at
home, with the help of a midwife or neighbors. The two older children had
unidentified fathers. The aborto/miscarriage and the youngest child were from the
same man. About the pregnancy loss, Julie blames this man who made her do it. He
was the one who bought Cytotec pills and told her to take them. She told me, crying,
that she regrets it so much, because she was not strong enough to decide to keep the
pregnancy. Julie said that when she had this pregnancy loss, she saw that the embryo
was female. She had the aborto/miscarriage at home, and she buried the embryo in
her backyard. She did not need to be hospitalized after she had it, and she kept the
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During the field research Julie was already pregnant by the same man who
made her have the aborto/miscarriage. She told me that, for this pregnancy he could
tell and do what he wanted, but she would keep the pregnancy. She wanted to have a
baby girl, but when she had the delivery at home, another baby boy was born.
Although she thought that she could have the delivery in a hospital, she felt the “dor
de mulher” and decided to take a tea made with a seed which she said had “the power
to decide the situation” (“poder de decidir a situação”). She told me that if it were not
the time to have the baby, the pain would go away. After she had the tea, she decided
to take a shower, but as the pain became stronger, she fell down during the shower
and her mother helped her to go to bed. She told me that it was too late to go to the
hospital, as she felt that the baby was going to be born. Her mother called a neighbor
who came to help. When the neighbor arrived, Julie had already delivered her baby
by herself. The neighbor helped her to deliver the placenta which was buried in the
backyard by Julie‟s mother. They called a nurse assistant who came to take care of
the baby, and make sure that Julie was fine. She followed the reguardo taking baths
and drinking remedies during one month and breastfed her baby well.
The eleventh case study (Lila) had established a conjugal relationship with a
man who was more than twenty years older than she. She was not the first woman
with whom her partner had established a marital relationship and with whom he had
children. She told me that, although many other women were blaming her for being
involved with a man that had already been married, she said that he was providing
what she needed and she was satisfied with him. Thus, as he was a good partner, she
said that the best thing to do was to stay with him and have their child, who needed a
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father. Lila had a normal delivery at the hospital where her partner came with her and
helped her to deliver her baby. Her partner told me that she was complaining too
much about the pain, and that he started to tell her to “put strength” (“botar força”)
when the pain from contractions came. He also told me that she was very frightened
and afraid to die, but he helped her to see that nothing bad would happen. Because
they were in a public hospital, they did not allow him to accompany her when she
Lila did not know what the “Dona do corpo” was and she said that she never
felt “dor de mulher.” She explained that she had already felt pain related to
menstruation and also before and after she delivered her baby. She was very happy
with her newborn and took care of her resguardo, using medicinal plants. After her
resguardo her partner used condoms as a contraceptive method because he did not
The twelfth case study (Marian) ran away with her boyfriend when she was
sixteen years old. They went to her partner relative‟s house, where they stayed for
three months. Afterwards, they moved to a house that had been a storehouse, which
had several divisions inside, and they lived in one of the rooms. They used to go to
the same school and they decided to get married by running away. She became
pregnant one month after they started to live together. She had a sad experience with
a three-month pregnancy loss. Thus, she was hospitalized and had curettage. She
explained that people told her that she had a miscarriage because she used to play
sports, which she did not think could cause it. She stayed three days with pain and
hemorrhage before she had the aborto/miscarriage. Ten months later, Marian became
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pregnant again. She said they used a natural contraceptive method that her partner
learned from a book from school, by avoiding sexual intercourse when she was in a
fertile time. She had her child several weeks after the time that was predicted by the
ultrasound exam. The medical doctor from the Sementeira heath clinic wanted to send
her to the hospital for her to have a caesarian. Marian‟s mother did not let it happen.
She told me that her mother said, “Doctors are not more than God” (“Os médicos não
são mais que Deus”). Marian explained that because her mother had several children,
from her experience she knew how it was. Thus, Marian‟s mother did not let her go to
a hospital to be submitted to a caesarian. Both her partner and she were students,
although she stopped her studies after she had her baby. She was planning to continue
her studies after her baby grows. Her partner works during the day, and at night he
goes to school.
Because Marian is very shy, I never talked to her about sexual desire. She was
happy with her baby, and her mother helped her, assisting her during her resguardo
after delivery. Actually, Marian moved to her parents‟ house during her resguardo,
where her mother provided medicinal plants and assisted her to follow and take care
of her resguardo and the newborn. Marian told me that she thought “dor de mulher”
was the pain she felt from menstruation and before and after delivery. Although she
had heard her mother talk about the “Dona do corpo,” she never felt “her.”
Shoco‟s women‟s idea of a kind of pain which is only felt by the female body,
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also reflects the relationship Kariri-Shoco women experience with their husband or
partner which very often is characterized by emotional suffering. Thus, I consider that
“dor de mulher” and to some extent the “Dona do corpo” (which provokes “dor de
authors who consider the body as metaphor of culture. Bordo (1989) emphasizes how
the body “operates as a metaphor for culture” (Bordo 1989, 16) and is a “practical
direct locus of social control” (Bordo 1989, 16). The unit of analysis of her discussion
American white women are more vulnerable. Those gendered disorders (practices and
discourses) are seen as “potential resistance,” which maintains and reproduces the
symbolic and political meanings” (Bordo 1989, 16). In this sense, Bordo‟s (1989)
simultaneously” (Scheper-Hugues and Lock 1987, 25). I consider that the female
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As it was already described in Chapter V a VII, the “Dona do corpo” is also
from which the expression “Dona do corpo” intersect semantic meanings of a female
health problem, a female symptom of pains, and a gendered female emic organ. Thus,
process domain from which it constitutes also a female naturalistic health problem. I
displacement reflected and produced within a historical process from which they have
biomedical assistance has made efforts to exercise control over the female reproductive
make on using indigenous and/or biomedical assistance, which reveals which medical
315
From what I observed and experienced during fieldwork, Kariri-Shoco women
very often make use of indigenous health care treatments to keep them healthy in terms
assistants, who work in Sementeira health clinic, about those treatments. There, they
explained their own use of remedies for gynecological health care. One of them told me
that recently she “felt a strong pain,” which she did not explain as “dor de mulher,” but
said it was “cólica” (“pain”) inside her lower belly. She described it as a strong pain,
and said, “I could not even walk well because it was too painful.” Then, she told me
that she decided to take a treatment “making a tea,” using two different kinds of
medicinal plants, and “bathed” herself with this remedy “by sitting in a bacia [washtub]
for about ten minutes.” She told me that she also made a douche (“ducha”) with this
remedy, and that on the following day she was already well as she did not feel pain
anymore. This indigenous nurse assistant said that last year she had the citologico
Another indigenous nurse assistant told me that she only goes to the doctor after
she tries all herbs and bush remedies for cure-healing a health problem. Thus, only after
she discovers that bush remedies are not working, does she decide to use the biomedical
health care system. She follows similar procedure for her children‟s health problems.
She explained:
“Health problems that I can cure using herbs from the Ouricuri, I use them.
My father makes remedies and mother also. The remedy depends on the
association of the herbs.”
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When I talked to Dona Maria Velha about women‟s health problems,
women are very “smart” (“sabidas”) that usually “they do not speak about their
health problems because they do not want everybody to know about them.”123 Then,
she told me about a doctor who suggested that she should have an operação de perino,
lower abdominal and perineal surgery, which is a common female surgical procedure
in Brazil. They often describe that the medical doctor explained that this surgery “lifts
the bladder and the womb” to correct the position of those organs, which are “fallen.”
Kariri-Shoco women also tell that this “fallen womb” health problem is dangerous
because the “womb can come out of the body,” and also cause urinary incontinency. I
also understand that a perineal hernia is corrected since incision is made through the
vaginal wall, from which Kariri-Shoco women often describe that they “become more
I have transcribed and translated the conversation I had with Dona Maria
Velha, when she mentioned information about this surgery and also about tubal
ligation:
“[D. Maria Velha:] There are many young caboclas who had [tubal] ligation to not
have babies, lots of them did. And they have problems [consequences], they go to the
doctor, but they do not tell anybody. I have delivered so many children, and then I told
to my friend that the doctor said that I should have operação de perino. He told me that
I should have this surgery forty-five days after I had my last delivery, because I have a
problem that it is dangerous with age and it can also cause a lot of pain. Then, I talked
to my friend and she said, „Maria, you should be careful with this, because I know how
123
Dona Maria Velha explained that “in a fight” a woman could “tell out loud
the problem that the friend had told, and make it public and shameful for the friend.”
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the operação de perino is.‟ The person doesn‟t get well ever [she laughs telling me this].
My friend had done this surgery. Because there are women who take this surgery and
become almost closed. She stays like a virgin woman, and when the husband goes to
transar [to have sexual intercourse], it is very painful. It is necessary to put a remedy,
like a cream, or take baths [with medicinal plants].”
“[I asked:] Did it happen to her?”
“[D. Maria Velha:] Yes, [and told me her name and explained:] She is my friend, I like
her very much and she likes me, it is a secret. She told me, „Maria, don‟t have this
surgery, take some baths with remedies, don‟t take this surgery because you will for
sure be in a bad situation.‟ Another cabocla told me, „I regret it so much after I had this
perino [perineal surgery], I regret it so much.‟ And I told her: „You became younger!‟
And she said, „Yes, I became younger, but now I cannot work in the field [rice
plantation].”
Dona Maria Velha showed to me how working in the field the person has to
bend the body while harvesting crops. This woman told Dona Maria Velha that when
she returns home from this work, she comes back “swollen” (“inchada”). We continued
our conversation:
“[I said:] Hail Mary! So you decided well for not having this surgery! [She laughed]”
“[D. Maria Velha:] A nurse told me that it is a very dangerous surgery. The woman
keeps the legs up to take remedy in the vagina. When the woman has a good flesh, it is
good because it heals quickly. But when it is on a bad flesh, the woman is going to
suffer very much. She is going to walk like she had hatched an egg. 124 A nurse told
me!”
Then, Dona Maria Velha explained why the doctor prescribes this kind of
surgery. She also told me about treatments using “bush remedies” that Kariri-Shoco
“[D. Maria Velha:] It [„perineal surgery‟] happens because when the child comes
forcefully and there is a little piece of flesh [hernia] that comes out. Thank God, I am
not going to take this surgery…”
“[I asked:] Do women complain about this problem related to this piece of flesh?”
“[D. Maria Velha:] Didn‟t I tell you? They don‟t speak about their problems. There are
several remedies with baths. When we go to the Ouricuri, what you see most is many
women collecting bush remedies from roots of trees to make remedies. Then you take a
bath today, other tomorrow, and another the day after tomorrow. That flesh is healed
124
Dona Maria Velha tells me this laughing, as a humorous way to describe
how the woman was post-surgery.
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and closed. Then you‟re healed inside. It is a lot about our body. And that is why I say.
Women, like old ones that I know, who had this surgery, they became like moça
[virgin], because she has closed. But a woman who makes this surgery and still have a
husband! She is going to suffer a lot!”
The suffering that women go through after perineal surgery, as Dona Maria
Velha previously mentioned, also include dyspareunia, which is pain during sexual
intercourse practices that women feel after they are submitted to this kind of surgery.
“[I asked:] How many women here do you know who had this surgery, D. Maria?”
“[D. Maria Velha:] I think about five or six women did it. That is why I say; I only take
it if it is a case of death. If I have the option of not doing it, I won‟t. To prepare my
luggage, healthy, to come back home striped, sowed by somebody‟s hand? Me, Maria
Tenorio? Only if it is something given by that Divine Father! [She laughed].”
Thus, Dona Maria Velha‟s decision not to have operação de perino shows how,
despite the medical doctor‟s diagnosis, she decided to take indigenous treatments using
“bush remedies” as indigenous gynecological or obstetric health care. This shows that
the authoritative knowledge she trusts most is the indigenous medical treatment.
medical doctor told her that she should have operação de perino because her “womb
was fallen” (“útero caído”). She decided to treat herself with “bush remedies,” which
she uses daily by bathing herself with them. This elderly woman explained that her
husband was always very “raparigueiro” (which means that he used to be a lady‟s
man) and because of that she had always been very careful of her (gynecological)
Hilda, who is a young woman, told me that she was diagnosed for operação de
perino. She said that a medical doctor told her, during a gynecological exam, that she
needed it because she has “low womb and low bladder” (“útero baixo e bexiga
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baixa”) and additionally, for a “perino” (perineal hernia). Although she does not
understand why she needs this surgery for “perino”, since she only had three children,
she recognizes that she is “a little bit folgada” (loose, as she has her vaginal muscle
stretched). Hilda explained that her stretched vaginal muscle problem is the reason
why she plans to have this surgery. According to her, this problem interferes with
sexual intercourse, which makes both her husband and herself feel less pleasure. I
asked if she had urinary incontinence, and she answered that she did not have it.
Hilda explained that during the gynaecological exam, the medical doctor asked if she
was feeling that she was urinating, and she told him, “No.” The doctor said that she
was. Thus, she plans in future to have this surgery. Hilda also told me that she does
not understand why she needs to take this surgery because, when she had her last
delivery, the medical doctor had already done a surgery. She described that she was
“sewed” (“costurada,” stitched). I understood that she had an episiotomy done by the
When I met her, she was still in a forty-five day resguardo for a tubal ligation, which
she had the previous month. She explained that she already had two children and,
because she felt lot of pain during pregnancy and she had caesarean deliveries, she
opted for tubal ligation. I was impressed that she had a tubal ligation so young.
Regarding her forty-five days of resguardo for a tubal ligation, I told her that I often
heard that usually resguardo lasts thirty days. This young woman explained that she
had operação de perino in the previous year, which was for “perino, and womb and
bladder‟s lifting.” Through information about this surgery, she explained that she had
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followed an even longer resguardo which lasted for ninety days. During these three
months she followed health care related to restrictions on food and activities. She also
used “bush remedies,” drinking them and bathing her lower abdomen with them, and
When I asked this interviewee if she had ever felt “dor de mulher,” she
explained that she used to feel it considerably during pregnancy, before and during
menstruation, and after the caesarean deliveries. After I asked her about “a dona do
corpo,” she explained that it was “she,” whenever she felt “dor de mulher.” She said
“She [a dona do corpo] wanted to come out because I could feel her while I was
lying down on the bed. She [a dona do corpo] got that strength [força] searching
for the child in the surgery [incision].”
This young woman described that she “put” her hand on the incision, and could
feel that “ball” (“bola”) and said: “She [a dona do corpo] was crazy!” She told me that
she “used to take baths [with „bush remedies‟], because when you bathe yourself you
renew yourself.” She mentioned that several times she asked Dona Maria Velha to pray
on her for “a dona do corpo.” This interviewee uses several different kinds of medicinal
plants for baths as indigenous treatments, including before menstruation when she still
All cases mentioned above show how Kariri-Shoco women, even younger ones
whom I consider are more susceptible to comply with biomedical interventions, use
obstetric health care. Those cases also suggest that Kariri-Shoco older women are more
321
resistant to biomedical interventions and take decisions that challenge biomedical
knowledge.
to one of the nurse assistants, the Sementeira medical doctor does not maintain
pregnant women‟s files about their prenatal health care. This nurse assistant told me
that prenatal care depends on how often pregnant women go to the health clinic for this
biomedical assistance. Once, I had the opportunity to interview three pregnant women
who were waiting for the medical doctor outside the Sementeira health clinic. These
three young women spoke about their experiences with prenatal health care, when
biomedical exams were taken after they discovered their pregnancies. All of these three
women told me that they were planning to give birth at the hospital. The reason why
they choose this option relates to the fact that at the hospital they would have more
privacy, since at home several neighbors come to see them and they are more exposed.
They also mention their fear of maternal death, reported by several Kariri-Shoco
women whom I had previously interviewed. This concern for dying when they decide
to deliver in hospitals is very widespread. They very often speak about cases of Kariri-
Shoco women who had died in Propria‟s hospital, when it used to be the hospital used
125
Information about Kariri-Shoco maternal deaths was only obtained from
Kariri-Shoco women‟s commentaries that they were afraid to die when they decide to
give birth in hospitals. Through the National Research on Demography and Health-
Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia e Saude (PNDS), national governmental research
conducted in 1996 on health and reproductive rights, the medical anthropologist Ignez
Perpétuo (2000) explored data to understand and situate factors (such as socio-
economic context, sexual reproductive experience, contraceptive assistance, and
prenatal assistance), which she could relate to racial issues. Regarding maternal
mortality, Perpétuo (2000) demonstrated that the higher rate among black women is
322
In July 2002, Mota (2002) sent an electronic message placed on the website
Etnicidade (NEPE). In this message, Mota (2002) informed readers of the tragic death
to have a caesarean delivery prescribed by a medical doctor from the Porto Real do
Colegio health clinic. Marcia, who already had a two-year-old son, was pregnant with
twins. Although Marcia‟s mother went in the ambulance to accompany her daughter,
she was not allowed to stay with Marcia in the hospital. The newborn twins died right
after surgery and Marcia died a few hours latter. No explanation was given to
Marcia‟s mother about the causes death. Later, she received a death certificate where
it was written that Marcia‟s death was caused by cardio-respiratory failure and kidney
malfunction after the surgery. The deaths of Marcia‟s twins were ascribed to
“congenital infection” (Mota 2002, n/a). This tragedy that happened with Marcia and
her infants confirms to Kariri-Shoco reproductive women how they can be exposed to
related to less access to health services, where much of the mortality rate is a
consequence of high blood pressure. She evaluated that 89 percent of the causes of
maternal death in Brazil are directly related to obstetric causes (high blood pressure,
hemorrhagic syndromes, abortion and infections during puerperium), which reveals
that many of the deaths are the “responsibility of deficient obstetric health service”
(Perpetuo 2000,) Eleven percent of other maternal deaths are caused by indirect
obstetric factors (non-specified diseases during pregnancy, delivery and problems
during puerperium) that could be prevented by obstetric services. Thus, maternal
deaths could be avoided by efficient preventive biomedical practice through better
quality public health services. It has been estimated that in 1997 from 100,000
newborns delivered alive, 110 maternal deaths occurred in Brazil, which represents 6
percent of women‟s (from 10 to 49 years old) cause of death (Tanaka 2000). These
data show the failure of the Brazilian biomedical public health practice. The public
health care system has been unable to provide preventive medicine and health
promotion. This deficiency is directly related to the quality of services for
reproduction, which has been responsible directly (89 percent) or indirectly (11
percent) for maternal morbidity and mortality in Brazil (Tanaka 2000).
323
maternal death when they decide to have biomedical obstetric assistance. This
contributes to their decisions to have children at home, when they are afraid of dying
if sent to hospitals.
they wanted to deliver in hospitals -- Kristy, Diane, and Gilda. Several women -- Betty,
Ema, Faye, and Hilda -- told me that they gave birth in hospitals when a medical doctor
women already had obstetric health problems. Betty had a caesarean from which her
newborn died, had a tubal ligation and later had an esterechtomy. Ema and Faye who
were about forty years of age told me that they had problems with high blood pressure,
which was also the health problem that Hilda told me that she had.
unexpectedly. I found several cases of women who have delivered without anybody‟s
help, and only after the delivery a neighbor, a nurse assistant, or a midwife arrived at
their homes. I believe that this decision to be by themselves during delivery is related to
their need for privacy during labor. In several of those cases -- Gilda, Julie, and Dona
Maria Velha -- the women explained that they had delivered at home because they did
not have time to go to the hospital. In my point of view, this information demonstrates
how there was already an implicit option for those pregnant women to have the delivery
at home.
Dona Maria Velha described her decision to have a child by herself, when she
did not tell anybody that she was having contractions and stayed quietly at home. It was
Dona Maria Velha‟s sister who suspected that she was in labour and called an elderly
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friend who came and helped Dona Maria Velha. This happened, though, after Dona
Maria Velha had already delivered a son. She told me about this experience very
proudly to show how courageous was her decision to have a baby alone. It was her
friend Dona Maria Curi who came and helped her to deliver the placenta.
Although she does not consider herself a midwife, Dona Maria Curi had already
helped several Kariri-Shoco women to give birth at home. She told me that she had
“handed” (“pegou”) more than ten children, as she explained that helped several Kariri-
Shoco women to deliver their babies. Dona Maria Curi also told me that “at a time of a
need, anybody can be a midwife,” which I had already heard from other women who
had also helped women to deliver, like Dona Ivete. Both Dona Maria Curi and Dona
A sixty-eight year old woman told me about her own experiences with twelve
pregnancies. She said that “for sure,” if she had those children today, she would have to
be transferred to deliver them in hospitals. She said that during labor she used to feel
lots of pain when she usually waited two or three days before giving birth. This elderly
woman‟s explanation relates to Kariri-Shoco women‟s perceptions that how long labor
lasts determines their option for biomedical assistance. There would be enough time for
them to be taken to a hospital. Still, Julie, who is a young Kariri-Shoco woman, had all
her three deliveries at home. She is one of the case studies who live in Porto Real Real
do Colegio town. When Julie started to feel “dor de mulher,” instead of searching for
biomedical assistance, she decided to take a “bush remedy” which would give her more
contractions, and therefore, it would make her deliver faster, or it would stop the pain.
As the “bush remedy” caused more contractions, she had her baby by herself at home.
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Only after she delivered her newborn, did a neighbor arrive and help her with the
placenta‟s delivery. Julie‟s neighbor told me that it was the first time that she assisted a
delivery and midwifery, is that very often as Dona Maria Curi had told me -- when
necessary, any woman might be helpful for a delivery. A nurse assistant from the Porto
Real do Colegio health clinic only arrived later to help Julie with her newborn.
I registered during fieldwork four different names of midwives who had worked
among the Kariri-Shoco. Every time I asked an interviewee who helped her during
delivery, they named the midwife. I conducted several interviews with Vanda, who is
the only traditional midwife among the Kariri-Shoco today. Vanda does not receive any
support from the local medical doctor of the Sementeira health clinic to follow her
work as a midwife. She told me that she needs disposable pharmaceutical materials,
like rubber gloves and antiseptics, but the medical doctor does not authorize their
provision from the Sementeira health clinic pharmacy, where these materials are
available.
Vanda has a notebook where thirty cases were registered of women whom she
had helped to deliver at their homes or in the Ouricuri village (where during rituals a
pregnant woman may give birth). She has worked as a midwife relatively recently
among the Kariri-Shoco. She decided to move in with her mother in 1993.126 Vanda
126
Vanda moved from Aracajú, capital of Sergipe state, to live in Sementeira
reserve area after her mother had a stroke and decided to live among the Kariri-
Shoco. Vanda, her mother, and sisters, are example of cases of Kariri-Shoco people
who were living in other northeastern cities and returned to live among the Kariri-
Shoco in the reserve. The reason why her mother decided to return after the stroke is
very significant, since according to their understanding the stroke is a very dangerous
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explained that her knowledge of midwifery was obtained by her own curiosity and
vocation to help women during labor and delivery. She also mentioned that she
discovered much of what she knows by her experiences with her pregnancies and
This is the case of Vanda, who did not have any biomedical training for her
work as a midwife. She now studies in a school in Propria to have a high school
degree in order to be able to take a technical degree in nurse assistance. Thus, she
plans to become one of the nurse assistants in the Sementeira clinic health team,
working as a midwife.
During the first interviews conducted with Vanda, she explained to me about
the „openness‟ and „closedness‟ of the body. As I asked her about how vulnerable
women are when menstruating or after delivery, she talked about cases to illustrate
how women are more exposed to the “bad will” (“má vontade”) of others when they
are with the body opened. She told me about a menstruating woman who became
very sick because another woman had done an “inversed prayer” (“reza invertida”)
against her.127 It was in the Ouricuri where this woman was treated after she became
with her body closed (when not menstruating anymore). About another case, Vanda
explained: “After delivery the woman has to take care of her resguardo for at least
disease, caused by an evil spirit. Thus, Vanda‟s mother came back in order to have
the treatment and protection she needed.
127
Pajé Júlio explained to me that “inversed prayer” is when somebody prays
a prayer through an inversed way to send something evil to somebody. He defined
this as “the prayer to dominate others” (“a reza para dominar os outros”).
327
ninety days.” According to her, this is the period that the woman is still with the body
open and vulnerable to catch evilness. She described a case of a woman who ”became
crazy” (“ficou doida”) after she gave birth. The reason why this happened was
associated with a “reza invertida” that was done by another woman. Vanda told me
that the woman who used an “reza invertida” was the one whose ex-husband had
moved to live with the woman who became “crazy” after delivery. By “reza
those that are found in the book of Saint Sipriano, where recipes of magic are also
found. Vanda was the only health practitioner who mentioned “reza invertida.”
One of the female shamanic specialists told me once about her own experience
of “becoming crazy” after she delivered a baby. In this case, the old Pajé Suíra treated
her with the use of reza rituals and remedies for three days with the help of other
shamanic specialists. The health problem that this female shaman reported did not
relate to witchcraft work. She told me that it was caused by a “weakness” because she
“had lost a lot of blood,” but she also mentioned that she had “broken” her resguardo.
Thus, the period after delivery, which is followed by health care called
diet and activities, and also practice sexual abstinence. As I have already mentioned on
previous sections, a woman who has her resguardo “broken” may have serious
consequences, which can be related to “craziness” or even death after delivery. I met a
few women who told me they became “nervous” because they had “broken” their
resguardo in the past. They usually mean that a resguardo is “broken” when women do
not follow those rules, or when it happens that she has a susto or a strong anger during
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this post-delivery period. Both susto and anger are considered dangerous emotions that
are often pointed out as causes for aborto/miscarriages, which I have already described.
What called my attention to resguardo was that I have registered little similar
data on how those rules must be followed. For example, information on food
avoid eating, although chicken is usually considered the appropriate meal. According to
activities, there is a restriction for women not to take a full body bath, particularly not
to wash the hair, for at least three days after delivery. Some women told me that this
restriction should last for a month, when they would go to take a bath in the river. All
of the Kariri-Shoco women interviewed start to bathe their lower abdomen with “bush
remedies” as soon as they can after delivery. I noticed, though, that despite the varieties
of rules followed concerning how long and what to follow during resguardo, the mother
health care.
shows how, despite the option which Kariri-Shoco women take to give birth in
hospitals or at home, they still follow this kind of indigenous health care. Thus, I had
information on women who had given birth in hospitals and, despite the doctor‟s
demand for them to take a bath after delivery, they would only wet their hair to pretend
that they took a shower. About this, Dona Maria Velha said: “The caboclas are smart!”
I also registered cases of women who brought medicinal plants to the hospital,
such as tobacco or velandinho, which they use for their protection, hiding them under
the pillow and smelling it. Thus, the resguardo is followed and “bush remedies” are
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frequently used, even when Kariri-Shoco women decide to utilize biomedical health
women continue to use their own indigenous practices in terms of health care. This also
experiences that I have described from Kariri-Shoco women who have used indigenous
and biomedical health care systems. I have noticed that Kariri-Shoco reproductive
women very often make use of biomedical exams, although they have resisted
biomedical interventions when they perceive that indigenous treatments are effective.
The failure of biomedical assistance, which is reflected in maternal deaths that still
occur, contributes to their option to give birth at their homes. My research found
evidence that Kariri-Shoco women, even when they are under biomedical assistance,
still follow indigenous health care. This shows that, although they apparently comply
with biomedical interventions, they resist them through their use of indigenous medical
knowledge.
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CHAPTER IX
CONCLUSION
Lock (1993, 133-34) argues that recently no substantial review about the
anthropology of the body per se has been done, while significant developments have
the body. Both Strathern (1999) and Csordas (1990, 1994a) have discussed the notion
of embodiment and the body, exploring, as Lock (1993) did, topics in a literature
This type of research has brought us to a radical position with respect to the
truth claims of the medical and epidemiological sciences… [and her intention
is] to move toward an improved dialogue, while remaining inherently
suspicious of universal truths, entrenched power bases, and intransigent
relativisms (Lock 1993, 134).
of the person” (Strathern 1999, 195-196). In this sense, for Strathern (1999),
Marxian concept that nevertheless is able to draw on the themes of asceticism and
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exploitation advanced by these two grand theorists seen, as it were, through the eyes
I also consider Foucault‟s (1979; 1983) concept of power to focus how Kariri-Shoco
(1979; 1983), power is something fluid and exercised rather than possessed. In this
way power is something primarily productive. Also, in order to focus how power is
(Foucault 1979; 1983). Foucault (1979; 1983) interrelates power and resistance, since
he considers that where power relations are implemented there is resistance. In this
perspective, resistance characterizes the dynamics of power and the relation of power
can always be modified. This vision leads to a perception that it is exactly because
individuals hold power that they are able to exercise it and modify its hold (Foucault
1979; 1983).
Relação de uma Missão no Rio São Francisco ([1706] 1979), examples to illustrate
what this missionary of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century described about
From my research, I see parallels between his observations three centuries ago and
mentions that “among them [indigenous people]” there were “witches,” whom he
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considered to be “impostors” ([1706] 1979, 4). According to him, those indigenous
“witches… guessed what they thought” and were able to predict “future things,” to
cure “diseases,” and also “to produce them [diseases]” (Nantes ([1706] 1979, 4). This
Catholic missionary revealed information connected with what I have found three
centuries later among the Kariri-Shoco. Considering that Nantes ([1706] 1979)
three different fields or directions through which investigations have been conducted.
Csordas (1994a, 4-6) classifies these studies as those that focus the “multiple body”
(where different aspects of the body are recognized), the “analytic body” (perception,
practice, bodily processes, etc.) and the “topical body” (when the research focuses on
the relation between the body and specific domains like the body and gender). My
medical knowledge and practices, which reflects their knowledge and usage of their
indigenous people search for their help. Ethnographic data recorded and described in
Chapters V and VI illustrate that practices that may be associated with Nantes‟s
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Nantes‟s ([1706] 1979) descriptions raise questions about how the indigenous
missionary and other tutelage systems. Despite the colonial history of oppression,
shamanism has been a dynamic process from which the Kariri-Shoco exercise power
people. This power is utilized through shamanic specialists‟ knowledge when they
domination.
Shoco from which their roles and practices form the basis to compose Kariri-Shoco
and sacred ritual practices, and also during daily life within or outside their reserve. It
is inside Ouricuri rituals where shamanic specialists work as Pajé‟s helpers and it is
also from Ouricuri rituals that shamanic specialists occupy cognatic kinship statuses
to perform roles through ritual kinship ties (such as Pai, Mãe, Avô and Avó) where
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celebrations are commemorated and relationships are established among the Kariri-
Shoco. In this way, my research has confirmed what Langdon (1992a) has observed
about South American shamanisms, where she points out that shamanism can be
analyzed indicates that these shamanic specialists‟ practices, particularly for cure-
healing purposes, require shamanic secret knowledge through their relationship and
Rezador, rezadeira and curandeiro shamanic specialists selected as case studies use
their knowledge and their own body, in an embodied knowledge, to feel, sense and
discover the nature of patients‟ health problems and enable them to diagnose and treat
individuals‟ subjective experiences, positions, and the roles they occupy within
indigenous people.
diseases-illnesses have ethnic boundaries from which the contrast between “Indian‟s
disease” and “white man‟s disease” demarcates those boundaries, and identifies the
nature of health problems and which system is able to treat them. Kariri-Shoco
335
discovered that Kariri-Shoco shamanism as medical knowledge is characterized by
the power that Kariri-Shoco shamans have to treat “Indian‟s disease,” “white man‟s
human experience in social process, my research found that the way diseases-illnesses
are conceived among the Kariri-Shoco have social and political aspects from which
shamanic specialists have to treat “white man‟s disease,” which are often ones
the “Indian‟s disease” domain that biomedical knowledge cannot be effective, when
shamanic specialist from another indigenous area, where Ouricuri ritual is also
other Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists do not have the power to cure-heal the
indigenous patient. Thus, whether within cultural domains of “white man‟s disease”
knowledge.
shamanic specialists have the power to cure-heal non-indigenous people who are
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affected by those health problems. In this way, diseases-illnesses among the Kariri-
knowledge has the power to treat health problems diagnosed by other medical
domains (biomedical and Afro-Brazilian religions). In this cultural context, there are
illnesses, which belong to different ethnic domains from which “Indian‟s disease”
stands for health problems which only indigenous shamanistic knowledge has the
diseases-illnesses from “Indian‟s disease” but this does not restrict Kariri-Shoco
efficacy within “Indian‟s disease” domain. Thus, the Kariri-Shoco experience health
problems within social and political processes where Kariri-Shoco human suffering
medical knowledge.
body,” Csordas (1994a, 5) mentions Mary Douglas (1973), who speaks of the two
bodies (physical and social), and who argues that the social influences how we
337
perceive the physical; Lock and Scheper-Hughes (1987), who propose the three
bodies (the individual, the social and the body politic); and, John O‟Neil (1985) who
Csordas (1994a, 6) criticizes these approaches for calling attention that “to
greater or lesser degrees… [they] study the body and its transformations while still
taking embodiment for granted” (Csordas 1994a, 6). In his vision, the distinction that
demarcates considering the body as either empirical thing or analytic theme is the
focused and described how Kariri-Shoco knowledge of the body relate to lived
fields that Csordas (1994a) has defined as studies about the “analytical body.”
Csordas (1994a, 1-2) explains that “the new body… can no longer be considered as a
brute fact of nature” (Csordas 1994a, 1). He observes “…in postmodernist times the
concept of the body has become complex and multiple, essentially resisting
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Csordas (1994a, 5) describes in detail O‟Neil‟s (1985) definitions on the
five bodies: “the world‟s body refers to the human tendency to anthropomorphize the
cosmos,” [t]he social body refers to the common analogy of social institutions to
bodily organs and the use of bodily processes such as ingestion of food to define
social categories, [t]he body politic refers to models of city or country as the body
writ large, forming the basis of phrases such as „head‟ of state or „members‟ of the
body politic; [t]he consumer body refers to the creation and commercialization of
bodily needs such as for sex, cigarettes… a process in which doubt is created about
the self in order to sell grace, spontaneity, vivaciousness, confidence, etc., [and] [t]he
medical body refers to the process of medicalization in which an increasing number
of body processes are subject to medical control and technology” (O‟Neil‟s [1985,
16], mentioned by Csordas 1994a, 5):
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In the wake of Foucault [e.g. 1979,1990], a chorus of critical statements has
arisen to the effect that the body is „an entirely problematic notion‟ [Vernant
1989, 20], that „the body has a history‟ in that it behaves in new ways at
particular historical moments [Bynum 1989, 171], and that the body should be
understood not as a constant amidst flux but as an epitome of that flux [A.
Frank 1991, 40] (Csordas 1994a, 1-2).
Good (1994) points out that studies of the body are an “important way of
which he explored as narrative, aesthetic and rational assumptions. Good (1994) used
phenomenological perspectives.
Csordas notices (1994a, 4) that, “if indeed the body is passing through a
opportunity to reformulate theories of culture, self, and experience, with the body at
standpoint more tailored to the aims… [not] of using the body as a methodological
intersubjectivity… [but] to add sentience and sensibility to our notions of self and
person, and to insert an added dimension of materiality to our notions of culture and
Strathern (1999), Good (1994) and Lock and Scheper-Hughes (1987) share
339
body. For Strathern (1999, 198) embodiment means “…a return to the sensuous
quality of lived experience, and thus naturally bases itself largely on phenomenology,
[it] can be seen from the fact along with the new analyses that stress a revised
viewpoint on concepts of „the person‟, [and] there is also a spate of works that stress
the senses and the bodily sites at which these senses are activated …this new
empiricism embraces the emotions and their link with the senses by way of vision,
touch, smell, hearing” (Strathern 1999, 198). Strathern (1999, 198) mentions a “new
empiricism” and Stoller (1989, 151) a “radical empiricism,” referring to this recent
interaction between the shamanic specialist and the patient through embodiment is a
and meanings intertwined through the senses. I have discovered how Kariri-Shoco
knowledge of the body, which they conceived that can be “opened body” (“corpo
and it expresses implicit dispositions of the body providing experience and senses to
the body.
340
definitions of sickness. I described three different kinds of Kariri-Shoco cure-healing
rituals which have the purpose of closing the patient‟s body. The most common one,
ritual. In this ritual through the use of words of power from prayers and the use of a
bunch of leaves (which the shamanic specialist holds towards the patient), the
shamanic specialist, praying on the whole patient‟s body, searches for what is causing
the patient‟s health problem. During this ritual, the shamanic specialist experiences a
light trance through his/her communication with spiritual beings. It is also during the
reza ritual that the shamanic specialist embodies the patient‟s health problem,
attracting it and expelling it from the patient‟s body. The reza ritual is one of the first
steps that Kariri-Shoco people take towards cure-healing processes. It is through this
ritual that the shamanic specialist discovers if the patient‟s health problem has been
caused by something evil (“mal”) or evilness (“maldade”), which is located inside the
patient‟s body.
If in the reza ritual, the shamanic specialist discovers that the patient suffers
from a health problem caused by an evil spirit, another more complex ritual therapy
called mesa ritual must take place. The mesa ritual involves the use of the Jurema
remedy, which the shamanic specialist and the patient drink. During this ritual there is
with four other people (two women and two men) called godmothers and godfathers
(or “table sitters”), who sing chants evoking spiritual beings. It is during this ritual
that an exorcism is realized when the patient has spirit possession. It is also through
mesa rituals that the patient‟s body is effectively closed by the active ritual “table
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sitter‟s” performances using words of power from sacred songs, lights (candle flames)
and airs (when “table sitters” blow candle flames) on joints of the patient‟s body. The
reza ritual for “open arcs” also illustrates Kariri-Shoco cure-healing rituals, when the
patient‟s open thorax is closed during the ritual in order to provide for the patient
Thus, the main purpose of cure-healing rituals is to close the patient‟s body
providing protection against evil, which is felt by the patient as an embodied health
specialists experience embodiment during cure-healing reza and mesa, when the evil
nature of the patient‟s health problem is discovered, diagnosed and treated. During
the reza ritual for “open arcs” embodiment is experienced when the shamanic
specialist closes the patient‟s thorax, while the shaman‟s thorax opens. Thus, Kariri-
Shoco concepts of „openness‟ and „closedness‟ of the body work as a cultural theme
of their knowledge of the body and cure-healing ritual practices in which Kariri-
powerful words of the prayers and airs (soft blows, suctions) are effective channels
and senses, which include (light trance), used and experienced for cure-healing.
Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists explain that the body opens during sexual
intercourse and when women experience menstrual and post-delivery blood fluxes.
The drinking of alcoholic beverages also opens the body. The “open body” provides
vulnerability, and therefore shamanistic cure-healing practices are avoided when the
practices intertwined with female embodiment in which bodily fluids and processes
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interfere with their força to perform cure-healing rituals. Bodily fluids of male and
female bodies from sexual intercourse and menstrual and post-delivery bodily blood
fluxes provide a vulnerability of the body from which shamanic practices become
dangerous.
elements about indigenous people‟s use of “tobacco smoke… prayers… [and] chants”
(Nantes [1706] 1979, 4), which he observed were used as “remedies.” Data recorded
Shoco people are herbalists and share knowledge concerning a wide range of
medicinal plants, which can be utilized for patients‟ health problems. Kariri-Shoco
people still frequently use tobacco smoke through pipes (made of special kinds of
wood) for protection. Several other plants are also considered for protection, such as
problems in general and particularly ones caused by evil, evilness, and/or evil spirits.
Medicinal plants considered for protection are used through smudges and widely
conceived as having properties for cleansing the body, places and the environment.
causation. I have confirmed what Strathern and Stewart (1999) argue about how evil
models. I suggest, based on Rodrigues‟ (1948) analyzes of Kariri language, that the
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notion of evil and good already existed among indigenous peoples in pre-Colombian
times in Northeast Brazil. I argue that diseases-illnesses caused by evil eye, evilness,
and even evil spirits happen among the Kariri-Shoco through their perceptions that
they can receive a “punishment” from their shamanistic realm (personalistic model),
in which the possibility for this to occur is based on their concepts of properties of the
body (naturalistic model). Thus, the notion of the opened and closed body permeates
that I found out how this theory of the body is more evident, when health problems or
specific situations in which the body is opened, provides vulnerability of the body
and, therefore, the naturalized possibility for disease-illness causations, even those
I have demonstrated the importance of the use of the embodiment concept, from
with cure-healings which are based on the knowledge of the body. That is also where
I base my argument that personalistic and naturalistic medical regimens converge and
provided within Kariri-Shoco knowledge of the body which is lived and experienced
through embodiment. Thus, the senses are the channel through which embodiment
occurs.
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Csordas (1994a) starts his argument toward the phenomenological method
with the explanation of Marcel Mauss‟s (1950) definition of the body as “at the same
time the original tool with which humans shape their world, and the original
substance out of which the human world is shaped” (Csordas 1994a, 6). Then,
Why not then begin with the premise that the fact of our embodiment can be a
valuable starting point for rethinking the nature of culture and or existential
situation as cultural beings? (Csordas 1994a, 6).
Instead of Barthes‟s (1986) „work‟ and „text‟ [distinctions], I prefer „text‟ and
„textuality‟ and to them I would like to juxtapose the parallel figures of the
„body‟ as a biological, material entity and „embodiment‟ as an indeterminate
methodological field defined by perceptual experience and mode of presence
and engagement in the world (Csordas 1994a, 12).
reintroduces the existential ground of culture and self through the biological body as a
being-in-the-world experience and reflection. In this sense his perception differs from
Lock and Scheper-Hughes‟s (1987), who propose also a mindful body, but consider it
as a metaphor of culture, where sickness can be seen as the “language of the organs”
(Lock and Scheper-Hugues 1987, 25). In Lock and Scheper-Hughes‟s (1987) view,
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calls attention to this difference when he mentions that the term, being-in-the-world,
informed sensory presence and engagement… and the sense of the preobjective
reservoir of meaning” (Csordas 1994a, 10). Through this reflection, he mentions how
hence we must speak of „existence‟ and „lived experience‟” (Csordas 1994a, 10). This
distinction corresponds, for Csordas (1994a), to the difference between semiotics and
phenomenology:
Thus within semiotics, broadly conceived there is the tension between text and
discourse (Tyler 1987, Lutz and Abu-Lughod 1990), while within
phenomenology there is the tension between phenomenology proper and
hermeneutics (Ricoeur 1991, Caputo 1986). In anthropology, phenomenology
is a poor and underdeveloped cousin of semiotics (Csordas 1994a, 11).
and hence the “concern with the problem of representation over the problem of being-
„language‟ and „experience,‟” and also “in the predominance of the metaphor of
and partisans of deconstruction, who operate under the motto that there is nothing
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Csordas (1994a) calls attention to “Geertz‟s (1973) version of the text
metaphor leans toward the representational pole in so far as it is combined with the
definition of cultures as systems of symbols and an extrinsic theory of thought that
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When we attempt to learn or research the body we immerse ourselves in a
field, as Lock (1993) suggests, that should “resist all pressures… to produce tidy
answers… remain eclectic in our approach, and be content with a body that refuses to
hold still” (Lock 1993, 148). This eclectic perspective is also mentioned by Deborah
Lupton (1996) referring to the study of medicine as culture. She mentions that “there
research problem from different theoretical and methodological angles, while at the
same time maintaining an awareness of the disciplinary traditions and rationale of the
different approaches” (Lupton 1996, 19). I have followed this eclectic approach since
body. In this way I consider that, parallel or implicit to this enterprise, my own
sense, for example, through worlds of experiences (Schutz 1970; 1971) or through
embodiment where the body-mind and subject-object dualities are considered and
draws out dichotomies between cultural and biological/genetic, and between public
and private sources of information” (Csordas 1994a, 12).
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Departing towards complex fields of knowledge, approaching themes of
considers that these themes are interrelated with the body-mind and subject-object
In my point of view, the anthropological existential dilemma for those who research
the body is that it is through our body (our own intellectual and cognitive capacities)
and historicity that we approach and, therefore, develop knowledge about the body. It
is also through Grosz‟s (1994) phenomenological perspective that I have realized and
I am not able to stand back from the body and its experiences to reflect on
them; this withdrawal is unable to grasp my body-as-it-is-lived-by-me. I have
access to knowledge of my body only by living it (Grosz 1994, 86).
9.2. Gendered and Female Embodiment: Corporeal, Ontological and Lived Realities
1994a, 4) through the relation between shamanism and gender, and sexual difference
and female embodiment. It is in Chapter VIII where I present two other observations
from Nantes ([1706] 1979), in which he describes information about two different
times of Kariri people who were recently under his missionary settlement in São
Francisco Valley. Nantes ([1706] 1979) first mentions that indigenous women “used
to dominate their husbands,” and that the children “do not respect” their parents and
“were never punished” (Nantes [1706] 1979, 4). Later, indicating consequences of
missionary actions, Nantes ([1706] 1979) observed that “the women are now
submitted to their husbands and the children to their fathers, who punish them…
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which did not happen before” (Nantes [1706] 1979, 17). I consider that those
changes illustrate how the gender relationships (and also parental relationships with
European missionary, his observations reveal that indigenous traditions were not
characterized by male domination over women, at least from the Western patriarchal
perspective. Thus, those contrasting times that Nantes ([1706] 1979) described, when
radical cultural change that indigenous people experienced within historical process
from which male domination and gender inequality became characterized by a new
that I found in their discourses, when they reported experiences of their conjugal
of sufferings within gendered relationships that I observed how male domination has
Kariri-Shoco women manifest great power over their bodies, when they exercise a
control over the naturalization of their reproductive body for prolific function and
over sexual desire. The research‟s findings showed that since Kariri-Shoco women
are immersed in a context of male domination, data analyzed about gender and female
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when Kariri-Shoco women have control and power over matters of the female
reproductive body, such as conception (when they may postpone orgasm or sexual
pleasure during sexual intercourse), pregnancy (when they use indigenous and or
biomedical contraceptives) and menstrual cycle (when they have the knowledge to
that Kariri-Shoco women use to confront and challenge what has been imposed as
and agency, through which they have confronted diverse dimensions of power, within
a patriarchal system, over the naturalization of the female body. On the other hand, it
is also a matter of reproductive rights, when their use and notions of “to make the
blood come down” provide a different perception of pregnancy loss, from which
menstruation.
consequences for female embodiment, interfering with sexual desire and menstrual
cycle. This option has also been a way in which Kariri-Shoco women exercise a
to the representation realm, and has been a subject of a great attention, particularly in
the last thirty years and mostly by feminists in the discussion on women‟s
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powerlessness and empowerment (de Beauvoir 1973; Grosz 1994; Butler 1990;
Castelnuovo and Guthrie 1998, Ortner 1996; and many others). Sexuality has been,
for at least four centuries, an object of reflection and control through knowledge and
Csordas (1994a) mentions that “much of the feminist critique comes from
1994a, 9). My essay about embodiment, gender, and sexuality (Martins 2000),
sexuality, which does not remain in the representational realm. Parker (1987, 159)
investigates the social and cultural construction of sexual life in Brazil, which,
162-163). The characteristic of these sexual types, as Parker (1987) observes, is “its
flexibility and its fluidity” (Parker 1987, 163), which according to sexual practices (in
examples he observed, but that he believes are present in Brazilian sexual ideology as
transformed, and also “sexual classifications can be relativized and overcome in the
reality of erotic practice” (Parker 1987, 163). I consider that Brazilian sexual
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ideology and practices provide evidence of a sexual difference (and desire) that can
sexual culture juxtaposed with Butler‟s (1990) concept, were based on my recognition
practices articulated to meanings and context, do not remain in signs and symbols or
related to Western societies where discourses and coherence on sex and gendered
bodies have been developed. Thus, from the Brazilian example, I started to consider
that the problem with Butler‟s (1990, 1993) theory was not that it was culture-bound,
only applicable to Western context, but that once she relies on the discursive and
formulation of “heterosexual matrix” (Butler 1990, 17) from which she explains that
the intelligibility of gender identity follows biological sex (or biological sex or
the Kariri-Shoco cultural context, gender identity (of being a woman or being a man)
understood and produced from biological sex and heterosexual practice of desires.
From ethnographic data about sexual pleasure and practices there is among the Kariri-
352
Shoco a “heterosexualization of desire” (1990, 17) where heterosexual practice of
It is in the context of female constraints that the „truth of sex‟ coheres with
women‟s explanations about sexual pleasure (“the sensation”), illustrate how the
naturalization of bodies (female and male bodily fluids), genders (woman and man),
and desires (heterosexual practice of desires and of pleasure) are associated with the
and women‟s discourses reveal that the female “sensation” (sexual pleasure) during
sexual intercourse relates to bodily fluids during sexual intercourse from reproductive
It is after menopause that the female sexual desire and gendered body change
among the Kariri-Shoco, because the female body becomes less often, or absent for
heterosexual practice and desire. This happens through female embodiment, in which
the lack of production of female bodily fluids in the menstrual cycle, provides
maleness for the female body, since women become “closed” like men (not
gender opposition changes, when women become equal to men. I observed, although
I do not have sufficient ethnographic data to confirm this, that an inverse gendered
130
I consider that when Kariri-Shoco women avoid during sexual intercourse
feeling “the sensation” before the man, in order that they would not “catch a
pregnancy,” evidences a way of resistance to the naturalization of their body to the
prolific function and also as a resistance to sexual pleasure in the context of
compulsory practice of heterosexuality, where they have to sexually “serve” their
spouses. This is my particular view.
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embodiment happens to men. It is perceived that as the male body becomes aged it
conjugal relationships, even with the lack of sexual desire, Kariri-Shoco women
continue to practice sexual intercourse in order to serve their husbands. This decision,
expressed through the perception that from female corporeality “women are always
already ready” for sexual intercourse. On the other hand, the naturalization of male
corporeality, in which man has to “get ready” or “to get prepared” (to have erection)
for sexual intercourse, provides a perception that it is more difficult for the man to
have sexual pleasure. These perceptions (“already ready” and “get ready”) express
gendered embodiment for sexual practices. These perceptions also illustrate how
bodies, genders and desires are naturalized in a context where a “heterosexual matrix”
is produced.
the body from which the „openness‟ and „closedness‟ of gendered bodies provide a
basis for sexual difference. It is through this knowledge of the body that sexual
gendered bodies from which biological sex coheres within perceptions of male and
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I describe an ethnographic interview in section 8.2, where Dona Maria
Velha explained about male sexual problems that when a male aged body becomes
disabled for sexual practices, the men is already “on weakness.”
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female bodies. The corporeality of female/feminine and male/masculine bodies is
fluids are situated within a cultural domain where a female emic organ called “Dona
and also contribute to female embodied subjectivity. What is interesting about the
“Dona do corpo” is that “she is like woman,” “she is made of blood” and “she doesn‟t
gender domain. This female emic organ located inside Kariri-Shoco woman‟s body,
which provokes pain whenever “she” is displaced, attests to female and gender
embodiment.
I understand that male and female bodily fluids demarcate marginality over
sexual differences (Grosz 1994; Lock and Sheper-Hughes 1987). It is not the
menstrual blood, the blood per se, but its quality as a female bodily fluid that opens
the body when it transgresses its limits. Similarly, the female and male sexual bodily
fluids‟ encounter also characterize permeability over sexually different bodies during
sexual intercourse, in which sexual pleasure related to female orgasm (“a sensação,”
“gozo”) before the male‟s provides the possibility for conception. In several
explanations, the female bodily fluids from sexual intercourse and particularly female
and male bodily fluids‟ encounter during sexual intercourse and sexual pleasure
provide conception and therefore pregnancy. The expression “to catch a pregnancy”
relates to this perception, since it is with the female body (“Dona do corpo”), from
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her „openness,‟ that the woman “catches” (“pega”) a pregnancy during sexual
In my research among the Kariri-Shoco I have found out that a truth of sex has
been historically produced, and that was the main reason to use Butler‟s (1990)
concept of heterosexual matrix. It was Butler‟s (1990) concept that provided the basis
through this imposition that a displacement of women and female embodiment was
marked by a thin boundary, since much of what I have described and analyzed is
VIII). My research is within the third group of feminists who focus upon sexual
female body was immersed under a Western history of male oppression. Still, I have
during my research.
Butler (1990) follows Foucault‟s (1990a) ideas, who describes and proposes a
(1990a, 78). Foucault (1990a) calls attention to how historically “a norm of sexual
development was defined and all the possible deviations were carefully described”
356
(Foucault 1990a, 36). In this way, children‟s sexuality, considered “unnatural”,
became a “species” and the family a “more complicated network” (Foucault 1990a,
46). He explains that his aim is to move “toward an „analytics‟ of power… toward a
determination of the instruments that will make possible its analysis” (Foucault
1990a, 82). Then he analyses changes within techniques historically situated under
…the mechanisms of power are addressed to the body, to life, to what causes
it to proliferate, to what reinforces the species, its stamina, its ability to
dominate, or its capacity for being used (Foucault 1990a, 147).
Western society, which has a sexuality and a specificity in its character, where the
“discourse on sex has been multiplied rather than rarefied” (Foucault 1990a, 53). He
and “medicine of sex” (Foucault 1990a, 54-55). He also makes a difference in “ars
erotica” and “scientia sexualis” to mention how other societies (like Chinese,
experience from pleasure itself developing an “ars erotica” (Foucault 1990a, 57),
while the Western societies have been the only ones to develop “the truth of sex”
357
At a first sight I tend to perceive, based on Foucault‟s (1990a) analysis, that
Brazilian sexual culture studied, described and analyzed by Parker (1987, 1991,
1999), is characterized by an “ars erotica,” while what I have found among the
misinterpretation. Maybe the difference, which marks boundaries between those two
(scientia sexualis). Still, we live in a Western context where truths of sexes take
place: my research findings and Parker‟s (1987, 1991, 1999) work provide
Maybe we should explore the idea that there is no “truth of sex” which sexed
gendered bodies experience. Maybe we could conceive that the sexed gendered body
in the realm of representation within the “knowledge-power” domain, which has not
been able to control lived experiences of (sexual) pleasures that human beings feel. I
think my study is a good example to explore the idea that sexuality (Butler 1990;
Foucault 1990a, 1990b, 1990c) can reflect a Western construct of desire, but it is the
locus for a body that refuses to (sexually) hold still, paraphrasing Lock (1993).
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APPENDIX A
Place/Setting/Lugar:
Interviewee/Entrevistado:
1. Age/Idade:
2. Conjugal Status//Estado Civil:
3. Do you have children/Você tem filhos? Yes/Sim ( ) No/Não ( )
If yes, how many children do you have/Se sim, quantos filhos você tem?
What are their ages?/ Qual a idade deles?
If not, do you plan to have children?/ Se não, você planeja ter filhos?
Yes/Sim ( ) No/Não ( )
4. Are you pregnant/Você esta grávida? / Yes/Sim ( ) No/Não ( ) Maybe/Talvez ( )
5. How many times have you become pregnant?/ Quantas vezes você já ficou
grávida?
6. Have you ever had any aborto/ Você já teve algum aborto?
Yes/Sim ( ) No/Não ( )
7. Do you use methods to avoid pregnancy?/ Vocè usa métodos para evitar gravidez?
Yes/Sim ( ) No/Não ( )
8. Has any son/daughter died:/ Algum filho seu chegou a falecer?
Yes/Sim ( ) No/Não ( )
If yes, could you tell how many, at what age, and why did it happen:/ Se sim, poderia
me contar quantos, qual idade, e porque isso aconteceu?
9. Annotations from conversation /Anotações sobre conversa:
359
APPENDIX B
Place/Setting/Lugar:
Interviewee/Entrevistado:
1. Age/Idade:
2. Conjugal Status/Estado Civil:
3. What was your experience when you got your first period?/ Como foi a sua
primeira menstruação?
4. How many children do you have?/ Quantos filhos você tem?
5. Have you ever had an aborto?/Você já teve algum aborto: Como foi que
aconteceu?
6. Do you use contraceptive methods? Você usa métodos contranceptivos?
7. Have you had a tubal ligation?/ Você fez ligação de trompas?
If yes, have you noticed any difference? About what ?/Se sim, Notou alguma
diferença em que?Em que?
8. Have you already “tied up the big knife”?/ Você já “amarrou o facão”?
9. Have you ever experienced “woman‟s pain”?/ Você já sentiu a “dor de mulher?
10. Have you ever felt or heard about the “dona do corpo”?/ Você já ouviu falar ou
sentiu a “dona do corpo”?
11. Anotations from conversation /Anotações sobre conversa:
360
APPENDIX C
1. Objectives:
1.1. To develop rapport adapted to local patterns of interaction and obtain
information on:
1.1.1. Shamanism as a medical knowledge (which shapes gender
differentiated health practitioners‟ specializations)
1.1.2. Kariri-Shoco ethnophysiology: how Kariri-Shoco indigenous health
practitioners perceive characteristics of the female body
(ethnophysiology, gendered embodiment)
1.1.3. How Kariri-Shoco indigenous health practitioners perceive and deal
with the reproductive body (reproduction and reproductive health)
1.2. To link interviews with cure-healing events investigating how Kariri-Shoco
indigenous health practitioners perceive and have lived experiences related to
cure-healing practices during events.
1.3. To organize nine individual case studies of indigenous health practitioners for
collective case study (see item 5)
132
All framework was compiled from Spradley (1979) about ethnographic interviews
and from Stake (1994) about case studies.
361
2.2. Inquire directly about how they formulate questions on issues related to
shamanism, ethnophysiology, gendered embodiment, and reproductive body
(reproduction and reproductive health)
2.3. Ask to talk about the cultural scene: place and or setting of cure-healing
practices related to shamanism, gender, reproduction, and reproductive
health.
3. Descriptive Questions
3.1. The form of the questions depend on the indigenous practitioner‟s
specialization and or the cultural scene selected, to investigate shaman,
healer, and midwives‟ detailed knowledge and for individual case studies
3.1.1. Grand Tour Questions: simulates an experience on cure-healing,
ethnophysiology, gender, reproduction, and reproductive health: e.g. Can
you tell me how do you treat… ?
3.1.2. Mini Tour Questions: explore smaller aspects of experience with cure-
healing, ethnophysiology, gender, reproduction and reproductive health:
e.g.Could you describe a typical reproductive problem that you cure?
3.1.3. Example questions: take an act or event identified by an informant or
from my participant observation and ask for other examples: e.g. Can
you give an example of another reproductive health problem?
3.1.4. Experience Questions: ask about experiences they have had in cure-
healing practices, related to ethnophysiology, gender, reproduction and
reproductive health: e.g. Could you tell me about a cure-healing
experience during the Ouricuri ritual?
3.1.5. Native-Language Questions: ask indigenous health practitioner to use
the terms or phrases most commonly used in the cultural scene (place
and/or space of cure-healing practices related to shamanism, gender,
reproduction and reproductive health):
3.1.5.1.Direct-language questions: e.g. How would you refer to…
362
3.1.5.2. Hypothetical-Interaction Questions: e.g. If a woman comes with a
[cover term for menstrual disorder], what do you first ask of to the
woman?
3.1.5.3. Typical-Sentence Questions: e.g. What are other ways of saying
“mulher está desregrada” [native language term for type of
menstrual disorder]?
3.2. Select one setting for participant observation where informants conduct cure-
healing routine practices.
4. Structural Questions:
4.1. The form of the questions adapted to each indigenous health practitioner to
obtain explanations.
4.1.1. Verification Questions: ask indigenous health practitioners to confirm
or contradict hypothesises about one domain (cure-healing practices,
ethnophysiology, gender, reproduction and reproductive health): e.g.
Does a post-menopausal woman have more strength to heal?
4.1.2. Cover Terms Questions: ask questions using a cover term: e.g. Are
there different kinds of …. [cover term related to reproductive health
problem]? Could you tell me how they differ? )
4.1.3. Included Term Questions: ask questions about included terms related
to specific domain: e.g. Are [cover terms related to reproductive health
problem] the same kind of health problem?)
5. Collective Case Study (individual case study undertaken jointly part of collective
case study on indigenous health practitioners):
5.1. The general objective is to consider indigenous practitioners jointly in order
to inquire into cure-healing practices, ethnophysiology, reproduction, and
reproductive health.
5.2. The study of the particularity or individuality of the indigenous health
practitioner:
5.2.1. His or her specialization
363
5.2.2. His or her historical background
5.2.3. The physical setting for his or her cure-healing practices
5.2.4. Other data contexts: economic, political, and aesthetic
5.2.5. The relationship to other cases through which he or she is recognized
5.2.6. His or her relationship with other informants through whom he or she
is known
5.3. Explore, based on ethnographic interviews, the similarities, dissimilarities,
redundancies, and varieties (each individual case study having voice) of
indigenous health practitioners.
364
APPENDIX D
1. Objectives:
1.1. To develop rapport adapted to local patterns of interaction and to obtain
information on:
1.1.1. Perceptions, experiences and practices related to sexual difference
issues
1.1.2. Perceptions, experiences, and practices related the reproductive
processes of pregnancy, childbirth, and the menstrual cycle
1.1.3. Cure-healing processes which they have experienced through
biomedical and indigenous medical systems
1.2. To organize ten case studies of diverse women according to sex-gender
identity and or reproductive experience for collective case study (see item 5)
133
All framework was compiled from Spradley (1979) about ethnographic
interviews and from Stake (1994) about case studies.
365
3 Descriptive Questions
3.1. The form of the questions depend on the woman‟s sex-gender identity,
reproductive experience, and or age
3.1.1. Grand Tour Questions: simulates an experience on sex-gender identity,
physiological reproductive processes, and reproductive health (cure-
healing experiences with indigenous and or biomedical systems): e.g.
Can you tell me how was your first pregnancy?
3.1.2. Mini Tour Questions: explore smaller aspects of experience with sex-
gender issues, physiological reproductive processes, and reproductive
health (cure-healing experiences with indigenous and or biomedical
systems): e.g. Could you describe how you experienced your first
period?
3.1.3.Example questions: take an act or event identified by informant or from
my participant observation and ask for other examples: e.g. Can you
give an example of a menstrual disorder?
3.1.4. Experience Questions: ask about experiences they have had with cure-
healing processes, related to gender, physiological reproductive
processes, and reproductive health (cure-healing experiences with
indigenous and or biomedical systems): e.g. Could you tell me about
how you became healed [cover term for a reproductive health
problem that she has had experienced] ?
3.1.5. Native-Language Questions: ask to use terms/phrase most commonly
used in the cultural scene (setting and/or social situation of women
related to shamanism, gender, physiological reproductive processes, and
reproductive health (cure-healing experiences with indigenous and or
biomedical systems):
3.1.5.1. Direct-language questions: e.g. How would you refer to … ?
3.1.5.2. Hypothetical-Interaction Questions: e.g. If your husband tells
you that he wants another son or daughter, what do you say to
him?
366
3.1.5.3. Typical-Sentence Questions: e.g. What are other ways of saying
“mulher está desregrada” [native language term for type of
menstrual disorder]?
3.3. Select one setting and or social situation for participant observation where
informants conduct female daily activities
4. Structural Questions:
4.1. The form of the questions: adapted to each woman (according to sex-gender
identity and or reproductive experience) and require explanation.
4.1.1. Verification Questions: ask to confirm or disconfirm hypotheses about
one domain (gender, ethnophysiology, physiological reproductive processes,
and reproductive health): e.g. Does menstrual blood make women weaker than
men?
4.1.2. Cover Terms Questions: ask questions using a cover term e.g. Are there
different kinds of …. [cover term related to reproductive health problem]?
Could you tell me how they differ?
4.1.3. Included Term Questions: ask questions about included terms related to
specific domain: e.g. Are [cover terms related to reproductive health problem]
the same kind of health problem?
5. Collective Case Study (individual case study extended to the women‟s collective
case study):
5.1. The general objective is to consider women jointly in order to analyze sex-
gender related issues, physiological reproductive processes, reproductive
health (cure-healing experiences with indigenous and/or biomedical system)
5.2. The study of the particularity/individuality of women:
5.2.1 Her experience with sex-gender identity
5.2.2. Her experience with physiological reproductive processes
5.2.3. Her historical background
5.2.4. The physical setting for her daily activities
5.2.5. Other data contexts: economic, political, and aesthetic
5.2.6. The relationship of individual case studies related to physiological
367
reproductive processes
5.2.7. The relationship of individual case studies related to sex-gender identity
issues
5.4. Explore, based on ethnographic interviews, the similarities, dissimilarities,
redundancies, and varieties of perceptions and experiences of Kariri-Shoco
women (each individual case having voice).
368
GLOSSARY
ABORTO . The experience that women have with pregnancy loss, whether
from a miscarriage or from an induced abortion.
ADIANTADO. To be advanced.
ADIVINHO. Foresighted. Guesser, the one who predict things or the future, who is also
considered the one who communicates with spirits.
AJUDANTES. Helpers, those who helps.
AGRESTE. Intermediate area between the coast and arid region of Northeast Brazil.
ALVARÁ. Species of decree used by Portuguese Crown.
AMARRAR O FACÃO. To tie up the big knife, which for Kariri-Shoco women means to
go through menopause.
ANJICO. Plant considered a sacred tree.
APLICANDO PASSES. It is an expression used in Afro-Brazilian religious practicioners
which means to clean the person against bad fluids.
APOIO. To give support.
AVÓ. Grandmother. Kinship term used as a shamanistic status related to Ouricuri
rituals.
AVÓS. Grandmothers. Kinship term used as a shamanistic status related to Ouricuri
rituals.
AVÔ. Grandfather. Kinship term used as a shamanistic status related to Ouricuri
rituals.
AVÔS. Grandfathers. Kinship term used as a shamanistic status related to Ouricuri
rituals.
BARSO.
BATATA-DE-CHEIRO. Medicinal plant.
CABEÇA-SECA. Dry-head, expression used by Kariri-Shoco to refer to non-indigenous
persons.
CABOCLO. According to Diégues Jr. (1975) are those Indians mixed with other
Indians in Brazil. It is a term used with different meanings according to
regions in Brazil.
CACIQUE. Political Indigenous leader.
CACHACEIRO. Term used to refer to those who drink lot of „cachaça,‟ alcoholic
beverage made from sugar cane.
CADÊNCIA. Vocation.
CALORIA. Hotness, hot flush, fever.
CAPITANIAS. Large parcels of land given to colonizers by the Portuguese Crown .
CERA. Beehive
CIÊNCIA. Knowledge, and also to be conscious, to know.
COBRIR. To cover.
CONCENTRAÇÃO. To be concentrated, focusing, often used with a sense of
meditation, contemplation.
369
CONTAMINAÇÃO. Contamination. Term often used to refer to disease contamination,
something contagious.
CORPO ABERTO. Opened body, when the body is vulnerable, not covered and not
protected.
CORPO FECHADO. Closed body, when the body is covered and protected.
CORRENTE DE AR. Air chain, breeze, wind.
CORRENTES . Chains, used to refer to winds, and also to spirits who are interconnected
or associated.
CRIADA. Term used for something that grows.
CURA. The act of healing, the healing result, reza “prayer” ritual.
CURADO. To be healed.
CURANDEIRO. Healer shaman. According to Pajé Júlio they are “mestres” (masters),
those who open table rituals. The one who heals, healer.
CURANDEIROS. Healer shaman. According to Pajé Júlio they are “mestres” (masters),
those who open table rituals. The one who heals, healer.
CURIANDO. Looking with curiosity.
ENFEITIÇADO. To be bewitched.
ENFRENTAR To face something.
ESPIRITISMO. From the spirits.
370
FORÇA. Strength.
FORTALEZA. Strength.
FUMO. Tobacco.
IDIOMA.
Term used to refer to something related to indigenous language in a sense of
something secret.
IMBURANA DE CHEIRO. Medicinal plant.
INCOMÔDO. Incommode Something that hurts, disease, a health problem.
371
NASCENÇA. From the time of the delivery.
NOVELO. Thread.
PACIFICADOS. Term used to indigenous people who were brought to missions in the
beginning of colonization.
PADRINHO. Term used by the godchildren to godfather, as a fictive relative
PAI. Father. Kinship term used as a shamanistic status related to Ouricuri rituals.
PAJÉ. Indigenous Religious leader.
PAU-FERRO. Medicinal Plant.
PEGAR UMA DOENÇA. To catch a disease.
PINHÃO-ROXO. Medicinal plant.
POMBA-GIRA. Female Afro-Brazilian spirit.
POSSEIROS. Squatters.
QUEBRANTO. Evil eye, which makes you become broken, weak.
QUENTE . Hot.
QUENTURA. Hot flush.
QUILOMBOS. Africans refugee settlements formed during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.
RAIZEIROS. Those who deal with medicinal plants and make remedies.
RAMO. Bunch of leaves.
RAPARIGA(S). term used meaning prostitute.
REAL/REAIS. Brazilian money currency.
REBANHO. Herd.
REDUZIDOS. Term used during history to refer to Indians who were settled within
missions
REGRA. Rule, menstruation.
REGRANDO . “Ruling,” which means monthly menstruating.
REMEDIO DE FARMÁCIA . Pharmaceutical remedy”
REMÉDIO DO MATO . “Bush remedy,” make from medicinal plants.
REPUXO. What pulls somebody with move.
RESGUARDO. Confinement, Health care after delivery, or after taking a treatment with
medicinal plants or surgery, etc.
RÉSTIA. Shadow.
REZA. “Prayer” ritual, words of prayers, prayers.
REZADEIRA. Female prayer shaman. Literally translating it means the one who prays
on the pain.
REZADEIRAS. Female prayer shamans.
REZADOR. Male prayer shaman. Literally translating it means the one who prays on
the pain.
REZADORES. Male prayer shamans. This is also the plural for male and female
shamans in general.
372
RUA DOS CABOCLOS. Street where the Kariri-Shoco used to live before received
parcels of land in the reservation.
SABEDORIA. Knowledge.
SECRETARIA DE SAÚDE Secretary of Health from state government.
SENSAÇÃO. Sensation, the sexual pleasure or orgasm.
SERENO. Dusk, early evening.
SERTÃO. Arid region in Northeast Brazil.
SIMPATIA. Light magic.
SINA. Fate, destiny.
SISTEMA DE COMPADRIO. Kind of fictive kinship very common in South American
countries, which
SEM-TERRA. People dispossessed of land.
SORO. Medicine given through blood veins, intravenous.
SUSTO. Startle, fright.
TAMPAR. To close.
TOPAR. In a coloquial use it means to face something or somone.
TRONCO. Trunk.
TRÊS ABALOS. Three trembles.
TUTANO.
373
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